Unravelling the weave A documentation of CARE Indias Rights-based Approaches in the Field Unravelling the Weave i Contents Acknowledgements.ii List of Abbreviations..iii Executive Summaryiv Background, Purpose and Analytical Framework of Study...1 Study Design, Sampling and Methodology...5 Profile of Communities Visited9 CARE Indias Impact on the Institutional Climate..17 CARE Indias Impact on Social and Political Structures..32 CARE Indias Impact on Individual and Collective Assets and Capabilities.45 Advancement of Rights: Promising Practices- Strategies and Processes...58 Next Steps...64 Annexures ..66 CARE Programming Principles CARE India Programme Focus Area Document Examples of CARE RBA Efforts Field Notes Illustrative List of Good Practices from CARE India Projects List of Study Team Members CARE India Unravelling the Weave Dr. Philip Viegas Director, MOLD CARE India New Delhi ii Acknowledgements With the completion of this task one feels a sense of relief not just because the study is over but more importantly because it has been able to demonstrate how CARE India has been able to successfully integrate the rights-based approach into all of its programmes across its operational area. As a result, the sense of relief is also from the fact that thanks to this approach, one can confidently claim that CARE India has been able to contribute in some way enabling and empowering people to claim their entitlements and rights with dignity. To this a significant number of actors have contributed. Hence we would like to thank here all our project participants across the country who have made this possible. As part of this study, which in itself was a gigantic task, and a long drawn one at that, several people have contributed. We would like to thank first of all, all our project participants who participated in this study and all our partner NGOs from the five States of Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Rajasthan, who willingly shared with us their experiences of working closely with CARE. Much of the credit for this study goes to them for their valuable time, patience and willingness to be with the study team. Thanks to all the Programme Directors, Regional Programme Directors, State Programme Representatives, Regional Managers and district field staff without whose support and assistance this exercise would have remained a distant dream. We are deeply indebted to PRAXIS who willingly came on board to jointly conduct this study with CAREs MOLD team. Tom Thomas and his team did not flinch even once to go that extra mile that we kept stretching them on to, to ensure the quality of the product. It is not just their talent and research expertise but also their deep commitment to the larger issues of social justice and peoples rights that ultimately made this study a reality. And finally, Id like to place on record my gratitude to my own colleagues in the MOLD Unit, Amarendra, George, Madhumita, Somen, Indrajit and Shilpi for contributing to everything that actually makes a product see the light of day right from its conceptualisation to its finalisation. Indrajit needs special mention here. He gave his full attention to every detail of the study both conceptually and logistically. With him taking on a large chunk of the responsibility, I was assured that things were moving along fine. CARE India Unravelling the Weave ANC ANM AWC AWW BPL CAG CBOs CDPO GoI GP GUS ICDS INHP ITDA NHD NREG PFA PNGO RACHNA RBA RCH RTI/STI SHG SNEHAL SRH STEP ULB VDC CARE India List of Abbreviations Ante Natal Care Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife Anganwadi Centre Anganwadi worker Below Poverty Line Community Action Group Community Based Organizations Child Development Project Officer Government of India Gram Panchayat Gram Unnanayan Samiti Integrated Child Development Scheme Integrated Nutrition And Health Project Integrated Tribal Development Authority Nutrition and Health Day National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme Programme Focus Area Partner Non Government Organisation Reproductive and Child Health, Nutrition and AIDS Prevention Programme Rights Based Approach Reproductive and Child Health Programme Reproductive Tract Infection/Sexually Transmitted Infections Self Help Group Sustainable Nutrition Education Health and Livelihoods Programme Sexual and Reproductive Health Sustainable Tribal Empowerment Programme Urban Legislative Bodies Village Development Committee iii Unravelling the Weave iv FOREWORD CARE in India defined its CO mission in the last LRSP as one of facilitating lasting change in the well-being and social position of vulnerable groups, especially women and girls. Having made a conscious shift from need-based food and non-food programming to rights-based programming aimed at addressing underlying causes of poverty, CARE in India has been experimenting with various strategies of engaging people throughout the project cycle, from conceptualization to designing, through implementation to monitoring and evaluation. To achieve this, CARE in India has been putting a lot of emphasis on the adoption and integration of the empowerment model of programming in all of its community initiatives, modifying its strategies and interventions to align as much as possible to CARE International Programming Principles. CARE in Indias empowerment model emanates from its commitment to three core programme focus areas which essentially stem from CAREs Unifying Framework and the rights-based approach. The three programme focus themes defining CARE in India programme interventions are: addressing unequal power relations, strengthening representation and participation in local governance and community institutions and, building strategic alliances and networks. Using the lens of these programme focus areas, CARE in India has deployed some key strategies to enhance programme outreach and impact, vis--vis establishing and strengthening community-based processes and systems, promoting and strengthening leadership role of women and, enhancing engagement, transparency and accountability of local self-government institutions in development processes. It is a given that growth is ensured only where learning takes place. Learning, on the other hand, occurs where space is provided for inculcating a culture of learning wherein sharing and exchange of knowledge are encouraged. As part of our commitment to learning, CARE in India launched a mission-wide study to capture the rich and vast experience it has gained in integrating the rights-based approach in its programmes. The present document pulls together some of its experiences in advancing rights through its programmes focusing on how CARE programmes have contributed to empowering communities, what methodologies are deployed for this and what has been the programme impact. Although this may be only illustrative, and certainly not exhaustive, of what CARE in India is doing, to all those interested in working on peoples entitlements and social justice issues this document should provide a wealth of information with concrete examples and methodologies for integrating the rights-based approach into their own programmes. CARE in India has certainly gained much from this experience and our hope is that so will the readers of this report, and ultimately, of course, the most vulnerable people we work with. Steve Hollingworth Country Director CARE India New Delhi CARE India Unravelling the Weave v Executive Summary CARE has over the last fifty years made a conscious transition from being a food-delivery organisation to a rights-based organization with a deliberate and explicit focus on facilitating the achievement of minimum conditions for living with dignity and supports the efforts of people to take control of their own lives and realise their rights, responsibilities and aspirations. This move has led to intense strategizing by CARE India to engage communities throughout the project cycle. To achieve the goal of peoples engagement, CARE India has strongly emphasized the adoption and integration of the Empowerment Model of programming in all its community interventions, modifying its strategies and interface to align them with CARE Internationals Programming Principles. The purpose of this study is to document this gradual but determined shift undertaken by CARE India towards the goals as defined in the programme focus document. It is essentially set out to understand how CARE India has impacted the institutional climate, social and political structures and individual and collective assets and capabilities in their broad programme remit. This study incorporates prior studies undertaken and documented by CARE India, has used participatory processes to capture perspectives of the staff involved in the field, analysed approaches adopted by CARE Indias partner organisations, and validated the progress from the communitys perspective. Twenty-two villages in twelve districts across five states in India were selected for field verification by MOLD in consultation with the programme staff. The analyses are on the basis of how the programmes on the whole have brought about a change in the aspects of transparency, accountability, participation, exclusion and gender (TAPEG) in the formal and the traditional institutions in a given context. The team looked at the impact that CARE and CAREs PNGOs have had on bringing about changes in the overall institutional climate of the project area as well as how interventions transform the relations between the target populations and key institutions. In a diverse set of examples throughout the sample districts, it came to light how CAREs innovative approaches are improving accessibility to and transparency of these institutions. Broadened accessibility lends itself to participation of marginalized communities in critical decision making processes that they were otherwise alienated from in the past. The transformation of these pivotal relations are gradual and by no means complete, yet the progress made thus far indicates significant strides forward for marginalized communities. CARE Indias impact on social and political structures has been varied across the five states visited. CAREs influence on the political structures leads onto an understanding of its influence on social structures since they cannot be considered as mutually exclusive. The creation of a greater degree of openness, participation, efficiency, transparency, and accountability has been differential, based on the various programmes. STEP has been successful in modifying attitudes of political entities and making them more accepting of community interventions while Stree Vichare has gone a step further in improving transparency and accountability in service delivery. In the area of health, CARE has been able to impact social and political structures positively across various states (to different degrees), by increasing participation and ownership of and by communities and community affiliated institutions. Social structures in some states have been modified to be more inclusive of marginalised communities due to efforts of CARE and their PNGOs. For CARE, empowerment at an individual level has meant an increase in income, skills and self esteem, pride in identity (such as dalit, sex worker, woman), enhanced quality of gender relations, increased ownership over and accountability of programme processes, increase in bargaining power in family and community, increase in livelihood security, enhanced health, increased understanding of rights and entitlements and institutions as tribals, women, sex workers, truckers, children, dalits, CARE India Unravelling the Weave decrease in the level of distress migration (STEP and CASHE) and increase in entrepreneurial initiatives. This study has contributed additions to this list of indicators and outcomes. Empowerment is at the core of CAREs activities, especially the strategic networking and alliance building, which has resulted in enhanced representation and active participation in local self governance and stronger community owned institutions. This emphasis on the use of village level governance processes has resulted in better understanding and has ultimately benefited the poor by increasing their participation and their control within key institutions. CARE programme strategies on empowerment have also strengthened individual capabilities to work on broader themes of social change and inclusion. CAREs interventions have also created powerful leaders and role models within communities. These role models have served as inspirational forces, to compel other community members to seek their rights with the programmatic framework. In many cases, these positive models are key impetuses of change, whom CARE is attempting to bring into the lives of the people through its programming. The desirable ends of any rights-based approach are sustainability in programme interventions both at community level and at the systems level, an enabling environment for community development, greater representation of marginalized groups and fostering well-informed individuals and communities. CARE has achieved significant success in positively affecting lives of marginalized communities and has set out the following promising practices that are detailed in this document: Partnership with governments Building community awareness Building community based organisations Promoting innovative, context specific ideas, responses and solutions Nurturing local leadership Making use of progressive government. initiatives Encouraging community led planning Sustainability of most of the good practices set in motion by CARE would require organisational will and concerted effort at building the capacities of its team to internalise the implications of such radical shift from welfare to right based programming. The writeshop with CARE field staff, MOLD team and Research team provided an opportunity to critically reflect on a range of issues that would help CARE internalise the learning. Continue to invest in key promising practices and deepen the experience. Continue to invest substantially in building capacities of community groups to be true agents of social and political change. Strengthen and widen the partnership base and build alliances with progressive rights-based organizations at all levels. Continue to invest in convergence of programmes and institutions ensure their accountability to community realities. Invest in CAREs staff at all levels to build capacities to do rights-based work. Articulating and rolling out clear guidelines for programming with respect to Programme Focus Areas. CARE need to articulate clear stands on structural issues such land rights, tribal/ dalit rights, rights of sex workers, etc. No organization can experience growth without these difficult internal reflections. As CARE India undertakes the process to learn further from its experiences, its ability to positively empower and impact the lives of marginalized communities will only be strengthened. vi CARE India Unravelling the Weave Chapter 1 1 Background, Purpose & Analytical Framework of Study Background CARE is one of the world's largest private humanitarian organizations. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. CARE is part of an international confederation of eleven member organizations committed to helping communities in the developing world achieve lasting victories over poverty. The scope of CAREs mission changed considerably from serving individuals and families in the poorest countries in the world, since its founding in 1945, when twenty two American organizations came together to rush lifesaving food relief to survivors of World War II. Thousands of Americans including President Harry S. Truman contributed to the effort. On May 11, 1946, the first 20,000 packages reached the battered port of Le Havre, France. Another 100 million CARE packages reached people in need during the next two decades, first in Europe and later in Asia and other parts of the developing world. Over the years, the scope of CAREs work has expanded - In the 1950s, CARE entered emerging nations and provided food aid under the PL480 programme. In the 1960s it pioneered primary health care programmes while in the 1970s, it responded to massive famines in Africa with both emergency relief and long-term agro-forestry projects, integrating environmentally sound tree and land management practices with farming programmes. Today, through its extensive network of Country Offices (CO), CARE helps to strengthen communities through an array of programmes that work to create lasting solutions to root causes of poverty. CAREs Rights-Based Programming CARE has made a transition from being a needs-based organization focussing on food-delivery to a rights-based organization where it deliberately and explicitly focuses on enabling people to achieve the minimum conditions for living in dignity and supports the efforts of the people to take control of their own lives and realise their rights, responsibilities and aspirations. The rights-based approach (RBA) is premised on the fact that people have basic human rights enshrined in internationally accepted laws and standards, and the realization of these rights is essential for overcoming poverty and living with dignity. Grounding CAREs work in internationally recognized human rights law adds legitimacy to CAREs vision and mission. The RBA requires CARE staff to focus on improving not only peoples conditions (needs) but also their social positions (rights) and equity. The CARE India Country Office in alignment with the CARE International brief defined its CO mission in the last Long Range Strategic Plan (LRSP) as one of facilitating lasting change in the well being and social position of vulnerable groups, especially women and girls. The conscious shift from need-based food and non-food programming to rights-based programming aimed at addressing underlying causes of poverty, has led to intense strategizing by CARE India Unravelling the Weave CARE India to engage communities throughout the project cycle - from conceptualization to design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. To achieve the goal of peoples engagement, CARE India has strongly emphasized the adoption and integration of the Empowerment Model of programming in all its community interventions, modifying its strategies and interface to align them with CARE Internationals Programming Principles. CARE Indias Empowerment Model emanates from its commitment to three core programme focus areas that are described below. The three themes have strong linkages with CAREs Unifying Framework on Poverty Eradication and Social Justice and the rights-based approach. Using the lens of these programme focus areas, CARE India has enacted key strategies to enhance programme outreach and impact. The three programme focus areas that define CARE India programme interventions are: Addressing unequal power relations Strengthening peoples representation and participation in local governance and community institutions Building strategic alliances and networks A key document and guiding beacon at the centre of these efforts is the programme focus document. The programme focus document provides guidance to both programme and support activities on overarching issues of empowerment. Concerted efforts such as sound programming at the field level, thoroughness in institutionalizing its learning, and explicitly changing and modifying policies and institutions that impact the poor are some of the approaches adopted by CARE India in its effort towards achieving the programme focus goals. This has led to a fundamental paradigm shift in the way programmes, institutions, and institutional support operates. The creation of the programme focus by CARE has sought to establish a common mind institutionally, which has and will facilitate the existing and upcoming projects of CARE to be undertaken from a rights perspective. The programme focus has obliged programme managers and staff alike to understand the historical and contemporary rights issues that are related to the populations that it seeks to partner with. It has also motivated technical leaders within the organization to design focused interventions that are pertinent to the issues that the poor, excluded, and marginalized individuals and communities encounter in their daily lives. 2 Purpose This study aimed to understand the initiatives adopted by various CARE India programmes towards advancing RBA and the processes and impact of this paradigm shift. CARE sought to conduct a critical analysis of the relevance and significance of the methodology and impact of these initiatives in the lives of communities that they intervene in. This report is the result of a long, intensive, and enriching interaction with communities that CARE India works with and with the CARE India Country Office staff. It describes CARE Indias focus and attention, and the level of involvement of the Government of India in its programmes, along with its understanding of poverty, as a product of peoples rights status. Most importantly, CAREs work on themes such as unequal power relations, particularly gender relations, and strengthening representation and participation of the people in local governance and community institutions are outlined in detail. The report also illustrates CARE Indias approach of building strategic alliances and networks as a means to facilitate lasting change in the well-being and social position of vulnerable groups, especially women and girls. CARE India Unravelling the Weave The purpose of this study is to document the gradual but determined shift undertaken by CARE India towards the goals as defined in the programme focus document. Figure 1: The Empowerment Framework 3 Analytical Framework of the Study The study was undertaken to answer the following questions: How have CARE programmes contributed to empowering communities? What are the methodologies and strategies employed by programmes across the country to enhance womens participation at the household level, civil society level and finally at the level of the formal democratic structure level? What impact have these methodologies and strategies had on programmes? What are the lessons learned in the process of promoting these strategies that can inform CARE Indias future programming? In order to explore these questions in depth and to understand the significance of CARE Indias work from a rights perspective, the study has used the following Empowerment Framework developed by Deepa Narayan1. 1 Narayan, D. (2002) (ed) Empowerment and poverty reduction: a source book, World Bank CARE India Unravelling the Weave The institutional climate creates incentives for action and inaction. Institutions can be categorized into formal such as those with laws, rules, regulations and implementation processes upheld by the State, markets, civil society organizations and international agencies, and traditional, such as caste, superiority, social exclusion, patriarchy, religion and so on. It is to be noted that since social, cultural, political and economic conditions vary vastly, and institutions are context-specific, strategies for institutional reform can diverge considerably. Social and political structures - Since societies are always stratified to a greater or lesser degree, empowerment outcomes are also mediated by the nature of social and political structures - the extent to which they are open or closed, inclusive or exclusionary, cooperative or conflicting with changes occurring over time partly as a result of feedback loops by the people. Political scientists also emphasize the importance of politics, political regimes, political competition, and the strength of civil society for empowerment outcomes. Individual assets and capabilities - Assets refer to material assets, both physical and financial. Such assets - including land, livestock, housing, savings, and jewellery enable people to withstand shocks and expand their horizon of choices. The extreme limitations of poor peoples physical and financial assets severely constrain their capacity to negotiate fair deals for themselves and increase their vulnerability. Capabilities refer to human and social capabilities, such as good health, education, or other life-enhancing skills or social capabilities such as leadership, a sense of identity, self-esteem, etc. Another way of looking at capabilities would be to look at capabilities as a summation of capacities. Collective assets and capabilities - To overcome problems of marginalization in society, poor people critically depend on their collective capability to organize and mobilize so as to be recognized on their own terms, to be represented and to be heard. Social capital allows poor people to increase their access to resources and economic opportunities. Working through representative organizations (CBOs such as SHGs, VSS, CAG etc.), poor people can hold governments and state services accountable. With reference to individual and collective assets and capabilities, the first two blocks constitute the opportunity structure that poor people face, while the next two make up the capacity for agencies of poor people themselves. The opportunity structure is defined by the broader institutional, social, and political context of formal and informal rules and norms within which actors pursue their interests, whilst agency is defined by the capacity of actors to take purposeful action, a function of both individual and collective assets and capabilities. By assisting communities in their pursuit to realize their rights, the processes of empowerment are holistic. The Empowerment Framework that Deepa Narayan describes provides a systematic mechanism to identify these critical dynamics. The framework admirably does not consider these dynamics mutually exclusive, but instead tries to understand their complex relationships with each other. At a base level, understanding how the collective institutions (whether formal or informal) and how the individual or family, can navigate that relationship is essential to strengthening ones position within a community. Without a dynamic and flexible framework, such as this, it is difficult to analyze these greater processes with precision. This allows CARE India to critically reflect upon whether they are genuinely addressing these underlying causes. At the end of the day, it allows CARE to reach out more effectively to the most marginalized communities through its programme initiatives. 4 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Study Design, Sampling and Methodology Documented progress CARE field staff perspective Community perspective Partner perspective Figure 2: The Study Design Study Design Any effort to understand the process of incorporating a perspective into broad programming approaches and to identify the fruition of these efforts would require an understanding of the processes from multiple perspectives. Capturing multiple perspectives meant that the study had to incorporate prior studies undertaken and documented by CARE India, use participatory processes to capture perspectives of the staff involved in the field, understand approaches adopted by CARE Indias partner organisations, and most importantly validating the progress projected, from the perspective of the community. The study employed the following key steps: 1. Review of project documents: included collation of key project documents, review of basic aims, objectives, rights-related issues, policy environment and specific issues related to the study design. 2. Sharing of study design with the Monitoring and Organizational Learning and Development (MOLD) team: A preliminary design was collaboratively formulated by the Research and the MOLD teams. Further, this design was pilot tested together by MOLD and the Research Team. 3. Pilot at District Bharatpur: This involved revision of the design jointly with the MOLD team, training of the study teams on the modified design, field testing of the design and processes and further revision of these. 4. Brief by state teams: A sharing of the design and inputs from the state teams revealed that in some state programmes, the CARE India State Office also shared its perspective and adaptation of rights-based methodologies and the implication of these in the ongoing programmes. 5. District level interactions: a. Discussions with district teams: The district teams gave the study team an overview of state interventions focusing specifically on the villages that were a part of the CARE sample. CARE India Chapter 2 5 Unravelling the Weave b. Discussion with partners: Several discussions were held with programme partners who were involved in the study, in roles ranging from strategic partnership for advocacy for common cause, government service providers to implementing organizations. These discussions were focused on understanding the efforts and challenges in furthering the programme focus agenda from the partners perspective. 6. Village level community interactions and PRA: This involved understanding CARE interventions from the perspective of the community and working with community members to understand the processes as they perceived them and the intended and unintended impacts of the processes on their lives. 7. De-brief with state teams: involved sharing very preliminary views of the experience from the field, outputs in some programmes and sharing opinions about specific processes being aired. The operative word in the debriefing sessions was preliminary. 8. Building the initial synthesis report: This was a preliminary collation of all information collected, reviewed and analysed. This would form the basis of the comprehensive report that was to be prepared in the writeshop2. 9. Sharing the report with the district team and MOLD: A preliminary draft was shared with the respective district teams to enable them to review the findings, and as preparation for the writeshop. 10. Collective review of findings and synthesis: A joint review of the information would be done during the writeshop that allowed the researchers, MOLD and the district teams to identify areas for consolidation. 11. Joint preparation of the final report: MOLD and the research team worked simultaneously on the report. One worked to create new information related to the RBA. The other looked at refining the chapters. 12. Report finalization: Following the writeshop only editorial changes were made in the report. 6 Study Sampling The study sample was selected by MOLD in consultation with the programme staff with three criteria in mind. The programme and site selected would have some learning to offer in the context of the study The sites would cover programmes that were actively experimenting with processes around governance, womens empowerment and community based monitoring systems Sites would offer diversity in the sample based on the nature of project communities tribals, dalits, women, children, distance, women as leaders, schedule 5 villages, Panchayat village/ revenue village/ sub village, variety of programme components, nature of partnerships with of NGOs, CBOs, urban and rural sites 2 A writeshop, held in Delhi brought together CARE field staff, MOLD team and the research team over three days to read, reflect and write the final report together. CARE India Unravelling the Weave Based on the available information, twenty two villages were included in the sample. The selected villages/ sites are in twelve districts across five states in India. 7 Methodology The methodology in the study was primarily qualitative in nature. It involved working with participatory processes to understand communities perceptions at the field level. At the level of the district and above, a combination of formal and informal discussions and secondary document reviews were used to bring in an understanding of CARE Indias programmatic perspective. Some of the processes followed were: Identification of households of the socially disadvantaged and poorest sections in the community, and examination of the distance of their localities from key amenities, services and resources Identification of key institutions (Panchayat, Panchayat committees, CBOs, SHGs etc.) and patterns of membership (as well as active membership, determined by decision-making role, influence etc.) Classify households into locally defined categories of well being, preferably over two points of time (e.g. today and 5 years back), and identify criteria for well being Note the reasons underlying upward or downward changes in well being status over time Identify factors that might have helped in improving the status of women, or in lowering the same, with concrete examples Re-categorize households on the basis of status of women, and identify factors defining each category Facilitate separate cobweb analyses to examine the role played by women in various household decisions (e.g. related to family planning, availing of health care for herself, expenditure decisions, sterilization, movements outside household, livelihood decisions etc.) Identify barriers to better status, and suggestions to take on the barriers Institutions analysis - Assess different local institutions based on (and subsequently find determinants of): Accessibility by the poorest sections to important community institutions Satisfaction with the institutions based on performance Accountability of the institutions Transparency in the institutions Highlight examples of how institutions can play a role in challenging adverse social norms Scenario analysis - Observe the common coping strategies and difficulties faced by poor village women, when faced with different scenarios. CARE India Unravelling the Weave Opportunities analysis (a) Find out significant development that have taken place in the community in the last five years that have influenced the reproductive health and status of women (b) Examine how such development came about, and identify various enabling factors and difficulties/ challenges faced by the community (c) Examine the role of CAREs programmes in strengthening enabling factors and in addressing difficulties Analysis of empowering processes - Identify key activities undertaken in the past under CARE programmes, and rank/ score them on the criteria of: Inclusiveness (of the most disadvantaged) Contribution to intended programme impact Sustainability after CAREs withdrawal Other processes Key stakeholder interviews - Anganwadi functionaries, Panchayat functionaries, PHC functionaries, ANM, NGO functionaries, block-level ICDS/ health functionaries, ZP/ PS members etc. CARE India 8 Unravelling the Weave Chapter 3 Village RACHNA CHAYAN Urban SNEHAL Noorpur Khairabad Kava Kheda Juna Bandar Veera bandar STEP INHP CASHE + INHP STEP CASHE CASHE Sandalpur Molbana Chattisgarh Nagar Urla Upanpal Talur SAKSHAM3 Profile of Communities Visited This chapter provides a brief profile of the communities visited by the study team, to understand the context in which the key learnings are situated. The following 22 sample villages were selected for the study based on the criteria mentioned in the previous chapter. The Table below gives the names of the villages, their respective districts, states and the CARE programme operational in these villages. District Programmeme State Rajasthan Bharatpur Bhilwara Gujarat Kutch Andhra Pradesh Khammam Warangal Srikakulam Surendra Nagar Tikar Vihothnagar Vishakapatnam, Dhamsarai Champaguda Banigandlapadu Kostala Annaram Sharief Galivari Gudem Bommika Konduru West Bengal East Midnapore Dhondiyabad Chattisgarh Bankura Raipur Bastar Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu Manipur, Nagaland Table 1: Villages in study sample 3 SAKSHAM is not part of the sample, subsequently the examples of SAKSHAM were added in the report mainly keeping in view its commitment to the right based approach in not only improving the conditions (needs) but also the social positions (rights, dignity and equity) of sex workers, Man having Sex with Man (MSM) and Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs), to reduce their vulnerability to HIV. 9 CARE India Unravelling the Weave 10 Key characteristics of the selected sites/villages Demography/Distance The average population size of the selected villages is about 1500, with the lowest being 89 in Konduru, which is a tribal village of Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh and the highest being 4819 in Tikar village, Surendra Nagar, Gujarat. The villages in the study are in the interiors and are at a considerable distance from district headquarters, which may determine their resources and connectivity to the rest of the world. Half of the villages are more then 50 km away from the district headquarters. An extreme example is Champaguda village of Vishakhapatam district, Andhra Pradesh, situated 140 km away from the district headquarters. Sex ratio The sex ratio in the selected villages is quite even, an average 50% of village populations being female. The mean age of marriage for men is 21 years and for women between 17-18 years. A variation to the norm is Kostala (Khammam, A.P), where the mean age of marriage for girls is 12 years. Social order, Hierarchy and Entitlements Some villages have a strict hierarchical social order with different castes and sub castes with demarcated positions. On an average, all villages have more than 7 castes, though Dhondiyabad village has 18 castes and Konduru consists entirely of tribals. Among the selected villages, two villages in Kutch, Gujarat have 100% Muslim population. Two villages in Andhra Pradesh and one in Chattisgargh have marginal Muslim population. Poverty All the villages in the study are among the poorest of the poor, with, on an average 75% of the population below the poverty line. Two cases of extreme poverty are Bommika, and Champaguda in Andhra Pradesh, where 100% of the population is below the poverty line. Education The villages in the sample are among the most literate in their respective districts and states. The average literacy rate in these villages is 64.22%. Access to basic services The selected villages fare better than many villages in India. 17 out of 22 villages have access to clean drinking water throughout the year. 19 out of 22 villages have electricity; 18 out 22 villages have a Public Distribution System. The drawback that these villages face is in terms of health infrastructure; only 8 out of 22 villages have a sub centre and only 13 out of 22 villages have the services of an auxiliary nurse and midwife (ANM). The available data is not meant to indicate the quality of the basic services available in the villages. Access to credit Only 6 villages have a regional rural bank in their vicinity, as illustrated in Table 2, below. A limiting factor to accessibility of the bank (for loans) is lack of land and other assets to serve as collateral. People have to hence depend on the exploitative credit system of the moneylenders -- 18 out of 22 villages have local moneylenders. CARE India Unravelling the Weave The existence of SHGs in all of the villages in the sample reflects the beginning of a new alternative and non-exploitative credit system in these villages, which might free people from the grasp of the local money lenders and traditional credit systems (if they are exploitative) in years to come. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) PRIs lack full participation and representation of the people, especially in the context of marginalized communities. Contrary to the grim picture of womens participation in PRIs, women are in fact coming forward, taking leadership roles in SHGs and ensuring the participation of communities in village level meetings of PRIs. It is important to emphasis that all the villages have one or more women SHG functioning, which in turn explains the active involvement of women in access and participation to PRIs. The villages in the sample have on an average four ongoing government programmes that focus primarily on health and infrastructure. The following table provides an overview of some of the key indicators for the sample villages. Indicators Dinking water av a i l a b i l i t y I r r i g a t i o n f a c i l i t y E l e c t r i c i t y PDS PHC Sub-Cen t r e Anganwadi ANM Primary s c h ool High School S e n i o r S econdary Regiona l r u r a l b ank Local money l ender T r a d i t ion a l c r e d i t s y s t e m SHGs Women r e p s i n PRI s D a l i t r e p s i n PRI s T r a d i t ion a l g o v ernance Literacy > 60 % Literacy < 60 % BPL < 50 BPL 50 80 BPL > 80 Distance < 50 kms Distance > 50 kms Urban s i t e s Table 2: Profile of sample villages Well being of Communities During the course of the study, a basic well being analysis was carried out with mens and Womens groups in the villages. The analysis is an exercise to understand the perception of people about well CARE India No. of villages in the sample 1 1 19 5 0 17 8 1 1 17 8 6 3 5 22 18 14 6 5 9 ( i n f o not a v a i l a b l e i n 4 v i l ) 8 ( i n f o n o t a v a i l a b l e i n 5 v i l ) 7 ( i n f o n o t a v a i l a b l e i n 4 v i l ) 7 1 4 ( i n f o n o t a v a i l a b l e i n 1 v i l ) 7 7 5 ( i n f o not a v a i l a b l e i n 3 v i l ) 1 3 8 1 11 Unravelling the Weave being, about indicators that they agree upon regarding different levels of well being and also the factors that affect the well being of a family. All the families of the village were classified into locally defined and agreed categories of well being. This classification was done in two time lines - the present status and the status as it was five years ago. At a few villages the well being analysis was done as a before and after CARE programme intervention and was followed by a discussion of factors affecting well being. According to the government definitions of poverty, on an average 75% of the entire population is below the poverty line. Despite that, there is a discernible perception amongst the communities that their well being has improved after CARE interventions. The tribal families of Champaguda, Vizag, AP claimed that before the intervention of CARE, the majority of women of the village were unhappy as they were not confident about themselves and their future. They also suffered from severe health problems. However, after the formation of SHGs by CARE, most women have begun coming out of the house to attend meetings regularly. The result is that they are more confident about expressing their ideas and opinions, and are vocal about their entitlements, are more aware of sanitation and health problems, concerned about the future of their children, and have adopted the habit of regular savings to overcome any difficult situation etc. Thus, most women are now happy. During the well being analysis (figure below) at Bommika village, Vaddangi Panchayat, Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, 5 years ago, no one belonged to the most well off category. At present, most of families, which were in middle rung of wellbeing, have moved up the happiness ladder. Factors responsible for this change have been Velugu Association, SHGs, new methods of agriculture, the ITDA and training provided under Velugu, Government and CARE programmes. They have gained pattas of 1-2 acres of land. 12 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Figure 3: Well-being analysis, Bommika Village Five years ago, the reasons for relative ill being among middle rung people were low quality of land, lack of crops, lack of ponds for irrigating the fields and lack of knowledge of government programmes. Today, most of these problems have been solved for the majority of the people due to Velugu-CARE intervention in land development. Some of the families who are still in the middle rung category of well being have young children and are daily wage labourers. Five years ago, the families least happy were the landless who had infrequent daily wage labour opportunities. Today, those families at the lowest scale of well being are the ones with no land, no food (in the lean season), work as daily wage labourers, have young children, are single women, are aged and those with low understanding of development programme leading to low participation, according to the mixed group of women and men who undertook the exercise. During discussions at the AWC of Banigandlapadu, Madira, Khammam, Andhra Pradesh, common reasons given by the community on well being of families at Banigandlapadu village are: 13 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Happy Low or average well being Unhappy Regular work Dependency on Children Mostly old couples Suffering from financial crisis Less financial support from Children in School children Severe health problems in the Health problems in the family family No community support No major health problems in the family Social support of the community Table 3: Well being analysis Banigandlapadu The tribal families at Dhamsarai claimed that before the intervention of the STEP programme, all women of the village were unhappy as they were not confident about themselves and their future. But now after the formation of SHGs under STEP intervention, women have started attending meetings regularly and as a result are more confident in expressing their ideas and opinions, are vocal about their entitlements, are more aware about health problems, concerned about the future of their children, and have adopted a regular habit of saving to overcome any difficult situation. Thus, most of them belong to either the category of Very happy or More Happy now. In Dhoudiyabad, East Midnapur, West Bengal, the four communities of Bhuiya, Bidh, Ojha and Manna have upgraded their well being status in the past 8 10 years. Economic upgradation was perceived to be a major reason for this upgradation. While setting the criteria for community well being, the respondents, mostly male, identified economic and social well being as major determinants. Women however identified literacy, participation in SHGs and control over access to cash as the determinants of well being. The status of women belonging to the Bhuiya, Bidh, Giri and Ojha communities was observed to be lower than that of the rest of the community. On the contrary, with Brahmin, Bera, Sahu and Gorai communities, their status is higher when compared to the rest of the community. The respondents identified the following reason for the change in their status: . Participation in SHG meetings . Literacy/ education . Income Generation activities . Increased mobility . Access to information . Mutual Sharing / Interaction . Increased reciprocity The respondents considered the SHG as their back up support to overcome any crisis. At Talur, Bastar, Chattisgarh, despite the prevalence of purdah, Brahmin women are at the highest strata. Some of the women have started working outside the village and this has helped them ease restrictions on mobility. CARE and the Anganwadi Worker (AWW) along with Vikasmitra, the CARE NGO partner helped the women congregate at a place to share their concerns and to conduct a well being analysis of themselves (illustration below). The present wellbeing of the women as compared to five years ago has increased. The main reason is because of their participation in the ICDS programme. The dependence on myths, beliefs and superstitions has reduced to a great extent and women are paid more attention by the community at large. Women are also involved in education and the percentage of girl children in primary schools has increased. This is co-related to the reduction in domestic violence. The incidence of bigamy has reduced to such an extent that over the last decade, there have been no cases reported. 14 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Figure 4: Well being analysis with women of Talur Village, Bastar District, Chattisgarh 15 Key institutions Institutional ranking reflects the relative importance of institutions in peoplefs lives and also how over the years they have or have not played roles in empowering processes. Institutional ranking by the people reflects the performance of institutions on criteria such as: . Accessibility to the poorest sections . Satisfaction based on their performance . Accountability . Transparency In a rights-based approach formal and non-formal institutions are seen as key vehicles of change. The approach would mean little if it had no potential to achieve a positive transformation of power relations among the various actors. Thus, all agencies must become critically self-aware and address inherent power inequalities in their interaction with communities. These formal and non formal institutions are potent forces to address unequal power relations, strengthening representation and participation in local governance, and building sustainable strategic alliances and networks. On studying the results of institutional ranking in all the villages, it becomes evident that there are few institutions which stand out in terms of their importance in peoplefs lives. These ranking of institutions also depend to a great extent on the local context. CARE India Unravelling the Weave Village Level Governance Institutions: are very important to poor people. PRIs occupied the top rank in most villages, mainly because it is the most powerful change agent in terms of providing benefits to the poor and introducing infrastructure changes to villages. The ranking however does not mean that PRIs are accountable and sensitive institutions. It requires concerted efforts on the art of the community to make them accountable. CARE is already working with PRIs at various levels cutting across programmes and regions, but to take the rights based approach further, the need is to initiate a community led process of grievance redressal and action and in turn increasing the accountability of these institutions. This process needs to be all pervasive addressing inherent power inequalities and giving people a moral basis to claim genuine accountability from these institutions. Angawadi Centres: have been ranked high because they serve the critical needs of the marginalized section of the village. Womens groups have ranked AWCs favourably because of child care services and services to pregnant and lactating women. There are also villages where it has failed to make any significant change in peoples lives and has been rated as among the most insignificant institutions. What needs to be done is to replicate the model where CARE has engaged with the people increasing the AWCs accountability and devising more transparent service delivery mechanisms. Self-Help Groups: have given people a platform where they can come together and work towards solving their problems. When asked the reason for the high rating, people said that as individuals, they were weak, but now that they discuss and raise issues as a group, they are stronger. Both men and women said that critical awareness regarding the world outside has gone up considerably. On many occasions, the SHGs have emerged as community level pressure groups. They have started asking and demanding their rightful services. PDS: is an institution which needs to be made accountable and transparent because it primarily serves the basic needs of the poorest of the poor. It has been ranked high by the people wherever it has delivered and as the most insignificant institution at places where it is almost non-functional. It simply indicates the immense scope for CARE to engage with communities to empower and provide critical awareness to hold the PDS accountable and to claim benefits as their right and not as charity. Schools: are important and have been ranked high by the villagers. The study found that the level of participation desired to ensure its accountability is missing. For example, in village Noorpur, block Nadbai, district Bharatpur, STATE although the school has been ranked as important, it loses out on all defined criteria such as transparency, accountability and in overall satisfaction to the community. The school in this case has little interaction with the community and no system of grievance redressal. Villagers are not aware of activities, appointments, accounts etc. of the school. Villagers are not aware of the quantity and quality of midday meals served at the school. For greater community participation, and to improve the accountability of programmes, such as midday meals, the example of SHGs organizing midday meals in Talur village of Bastar district, is worth replicating. This not only gave the SHG members confidence but improved community participation and accountability of the programme. This gives CARE and its partner organization scope for engaging with the people to advocate the rights-based frame work of development in the village to improve the quality of education and accountability of the school as a peoples institution. Health Service Institutions: though ranked as important, are one of the major lacunae in all villages. There is scope for CARE and its local partners to increase and maintain the 16 CARE India Unravelling the Weave accountability of existing health facilities and to advance peoples right to better health services. An illustration of the Annaram Sharief village, Warangal district, of Andhra Pradesh ranking of institutions is below. This is the area of the intervention of INHP II and CASHE. The local partner facilitated setting up self help groups. A majority are from Muslim population, and a few from the SC community. Some of the women who participated in the ranking exercise also belong to communities/castes other than the SC and Muslim communities. Figure 5: Ranking of Institutions by 2 SHG groups (mixed community- Muslims, General caste and Scheduled caste) in Annaram Sharrief 17 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Chapter 4 18 CARE Indias Impact on the Institutional Climate In this chapter, a concerted effort is made to understand the strategies and processes adopted by CARE programmes in the sites visited by the study team and thereby highlight changes brought about by CAREs intervention in the overall institutional climate, which forms a component of the overarching process of empowerment. It also attempts to provide an understanding of the impact that CARE and CARE supported institutions have had on bringing about change in the overall institutional climate of the project area. In addition, the chapter outlines how CAREs interventions transform the relations between the target populations and key formal and traditional institutions. In the CARE context therefore, the analysis would be on the basis of how the programme on the whole has brought about a change in the aspects of transparency, accountability, participation, exclusion and gender (TAPEG) in the formal and the traditional institutions in a given context. Since this study focuses on the specific learnings emerging from the shift to rights-based approaches, the impact can be studied from that very perspective. Given the vast programme areas of CARE India, the five states covered by the study had immensely differing contexts. These were not only determined by region specific parameters but also by the socio-economic and political aspects of the region. For example, while the system of local self governance was by far the most efficient in the state of West Bengal, the same was not the case with Andhra Pradesh where the state government has devolved only five subjects to the Panchayat. In Gujarat, the districts visited were affected by the 2000 Bhuj earthquake. Therefore, it could be said that the success of adopting a rights based approach would depend primarily on the context in which the institutions and community interact. Other components in the empowerment framework are social and political structures, individual assets and capabilities and collective assets and capabilities. These aspects have been dealt with in subsequent chapters. Institutional climate Formal institutions During the course of the study in the five states the team came across various formal institutions, which were in direct contact with CARE programmes. There were other formal institutions which were indirectly influenced by CARE and CARE supported institutions. In terms of an institutional climate, most formal or other institutions in CAREs programme areas have either been the State or its instruments. The institutional climate therefore in this context refers to state governments, various government departments such as health and family welfare, revenue and offices such as the BDO, Zilla Parishad and the laws, rules and processes set up by them. In specific cases, one also comes across specialized organs set up by the Government such as the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) as an important institution. Apart from the State and its instruments, other important formal institutions that one comes across are PRIs. Though they can be looked at as an instrument of the state, the fact that they are close to the people, have direct representation from the people and act as a link between people and the CARE India Unravelling the Weave other instruments of the state, the Panchayats here has been classified as a formal institution but not a direct instrument of the State. Apart from these the market is an institution, which plays an extremely important role in the lives of the people. Therefore, it would be worthwhile to look at the changes CAREs intervention has brought about in the way the people from CAREs programmatic areas have been able to leverage market forces to their benefit. There is no doubt that CARE and its local partners have engaged with various villages and block level government and non-governmental institutions but whether this engagement is rights based will be decided by the empowerment levels of the people with whom they engage at the grass root level. Traditional institutions Traditional institutions in the context of this study have been defined as institutions, which have been entrenched in societies and communities and dictate the terms and conditions for individuals to live in that society. Some of these institutions are exploitative in nature and have been created through primordial processes where power holders, to perpetuate an exploitative power structure, have set up such institutions. They maybe instruments of hegemony whereby the oppressed are made to accept exploitation as a norm. Examples range from institutions such as caste, patriarchy in some instances, religion, and customs, which are to a great extent decided by the institutions mentioned above. Another fundamental institution is the family. A family is not only a fundamental unit of the society but also an important institution as far as the study on rights-based approaches is concerned. 19 CAREs Impact on Formal Institutions It is important to understand that the process by which the institutional climate is formed in a specific context depends a great deal on the interactions of the various institutions that are present in that context. Not only would there be interaction between formal and traditional institutions but also within the formal and traditional institutions. Therefore, this study examines how CARE and CARE supported organizations have been able to influence this process of interaction among the various institutions for the benefit of the community. It would also study how this has led to an increase in transparency, accountability, participation and minimization of exclusion, which CARE measures through the TAPEG framework. A study of the impact on formal institutions by CARE programmes is essential given CAREs approach of working with the system and attempting to make it more efficient from within. When documenting CAREs impact on formal institutions, the study team observed that one the one hand CARE makes efforts to influence formal institutions directly while on the other, it is not making efforts to change the dynamics of the market, the state or its various instruments, but by building the capacity of its PNGOs, and through them the community, CARE does have an impact on formal institutions. The following pages attempts to capture ways in which CARE, its partner NGOs and communities have sought to make the formal institutions more transparent, accountable, participatory, equitable and gender responsive. CARE India Unravelling the Weave Collaboration with the State Working with the system, CARE through its programmes tries to strengthen existing processes without compromising on community perspectives. An interesting phenomenon is CAREs STEP programme in Andhra Pradesh, where CARE partners with NGOs that have a confrontational approach with the State. In such a scenario, in the words of the district CARE team member of Srikakulam, CARE had to walk a tight rope between extending support to its partners on the one hand and liaison with government departments on the other. In another CARE project, SNEHAL, in Gujarat, the NGO partners have for long been present in the area, and have their independent viewpoints. Therefore, CARE in SNEHAL draws on the experience and capacities of these partners in its work on livelihoods and rights. There have also been several instances in Andhra Pradesh where the community led by the local NGO Velugu Association has come up against the ITDA while in partnership with CARE. In such situations CARE, while providing moral support to the community would, at the same time try to convince the Government to accept the communitys demands. CARE has however held itself at a distance from any form of protests that the PNGO might engage in. One such protest in the Srikakulam district has been regarding the relocation of the public distribution outlet. In such a scenario, the people from the PNGO, Velugu Association, told the team that although CARE did not participate in the protests, the discussions that CARE had with the officials of ITDA had helped in the relocation of the PDS outlet closer to the village. Increase in Leverage with the Government Discussions with the staff of the PNGO brought to light the fact that after partnering with CARE, their leverage with government officials had increased to a large extent which has helped in the community getting more benefits. In SNEHAL, Gujarat, advisory committees are formed at state and district levels. At the state level, the members of the advisory committee are secretaries of various ministries and departments such as Women & Child Development, Health, Rural Development, Education, Labour as well as the CARE representative. At the district level, SNEHAL is represented by the NGO partners and CARE and concerned departments with the District Development Officer as the head. The role of these committees is to review and guide the progress of the project. As policy level changes are a very significant component of the project, the committees have therefore a very important role to play. This has helped projects in terms of ensuring collaboration and a sense of ownership between partners and the Government. Creating Good Governance Models An example in this regard comes from the Medak district of Andhra Pradesh where CARE directly implements the INHP programme in the ICDS block of Gajwel. Gajwel stands out as an example in which CARE has been able to phenomenally improve the service delivery efficiency of the ICDS system by working not only at the grass-root level but also at the block level. Case Study 01: Gajwel ICDS A Good Governance Model The good governance model at Ravelli under the Gajwel ICDS project concentrates on making the government system more efficient through interventions at the level of the community and at the level of government administrative structure. According to Ms. S.K. Indira Devi (Government partnership officer) the concept of good governance was facilitated by the Government and emerged from constant interaction with CARE and stakeholders, with systems in place both at the community and district level. The district administration has also created a 20 CARE India Unravelling the Weave conducive atmosphere for the effective implementation of the good governance model by cooperating with CARE in the process. At the community level, the process was initiated at the Anganwadi centre (AWC), by implementing the four core elements of good governance. The first three elements viz. information dissemination, transparency and accountability were only at the AWC level; the fourth element, i.e., community based review system was initiated with community involvement. This process was initiated through the Mothers Committee by putting in place change agents (CA) from within the community. It was mandatory for concerned departments to constitute an 8-member Mothers Committee in each AWC. The Mothers Committees main role was to act as a pressure group in the village to ensure efficient service delivery through the ICDS system and also to assist the Anganwadi worker (AWW) in improving service delivery, whilst the role of change agents is to act as a link between the Anganwadi and the community and to create synergy between the two. The change agents were identified and trained under the guidance of CARE. Figure 6: A behaviour tracking tool for pregnant and lactating women and children under two years being used in Gajwel ICDS 21 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Besides the fact that the Mothers Committee member had to be a beneficiary of the specific AWC, care was also taken to ensure that she represented a specific caste and a particular locality of the village. This way, the participation of all communities and different localities of the village was ensured. This is reflected in the caste break-up of the Mothers Committee, which has two members from the higher caste, 4 from the backward caste, 1 from the Scheduled Tribe and 1 from the Scheduled Caste. However, the participation of Muslim women could not be ensured as it was said that women from the Muslim community were reluctant to come forward to become members of the Mothers Committee. The selection of the Mothers Committee members was done in a meeting attended by the sarpanch of the village, AWW and the ICDS supervisor. Change Agents A change agent is a volunteer selected in consensus with the members of the community to support the Anganwadi worker. The change agents are given responsibility for a specific area and have to make sure that the service delivery of the ICDS in the village is better.. The CAs makes sure that pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of 5 are able to avail the services of the ICDS. If for some reason any beneficiary is not able to avail of any of the services provided by the Anganwadi, the issue is taken up in the Mothers Committee and also with the AWW. Use of Participatory Tools At the Anganwadi, tools such as the social map, growth chart, home visit tool, behaviour tracking tool, Nutrition and Health Day (NHD), service tracking tool etc. were used to ensure better service, to sensitize communities about critical health and nutrition interventions and beneficiary-wise behavioural practices. A social map and a list of beneficiaries are maintained at the AWC, which are updated frequently. As the village social map has been put up at a place where everybody can see it, there have been situations where the villagers have come and asked the AWW to make the required changes in the social map. This has proved to be a positive step in ensuring transparency in the system and the processes. Apart from this, important information is displayed on walls to maintain transparency, in matters such as stock availability, medicine availability, the permanent stock available in the centre, etc. There is a tool to track NHD service delivery. Mothers Committee members participate during the NHD and support the AWW in distributing the supplementary nutrition (Take Home Ration), in tracking the beneficiaries who have availed NHD services on the day and write this information on the NHD service tracking tool. This ensures transparency in service delivery. After every NHD, the AWW with the ANM and Mothers Committee prepare a plan to mobilize the absentees. Besides this, change agents and service providers plan home visits and observations are noted on the behaviour-tracking tool, which is displayed in the centre. The use of various tools and the formation of Mothers Committees and the presence of change agents have brought about some tangible changes in the situation at the ground level. The study teams discussions with community members showed that they are now more aware regarding different aspects of pre-natal, post-natal care, new born care and infant feeding practices and routine immunization. One interesting finding that emerged from the discussions with women of the community was that the use of various tools and the presence of CAs have also led to a change in the attitude and behaviour of men towards reproductive child health (RCH). Women mentioned that their husbands who until now were indifferent to their needs during pregnancy had now started making sure that their wives went for their monthly check-ups and took IFA tablets and also ensured that they received the required number of TT shots. One interesting tool the study team observed was the Community Based Growth Monitoring Chart, which is filled (coloured) by mothers while the AWW weighs the child. Earlier, mothers were rarely sensitized about the nutritional status of their children unless it was very severe. They are now aware that their children must fall in the green bracket, i.e. 22 CARE India Unravelling the Weave normal weight for their age. This has also triggered better feeding practices among these mothers. The number of under one year normal weight children has increased significantly in the project. The AWW of Gajwel, Anaya reiterated that even women now have begun realizing the importance of adequate nutrition and have started taking care of their nutrition. At the block level, CARE has come up with tools that help block level functionaries to monitor the processes used at the various Anganwadis. An interesting aspect is the Block Level Resource Map (BLRM) that has been put up at the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) office. The BLRM maps are maintained at all Anganwadis under the Gajwel ICDS. Information about antenatal checkups, immunization, supplementary nutrition programme etc. is on the map. Figure 7: Block Level Resource Map of Gajwel ICDS According to the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO), the use of the BLRM has helped her staff and her to identify gaps in information and also provided them with a clear idea of the people who could not otherwise be reached. Further, according to her, information dissemination has led to greater accountability within the system and the reporting system has also improved. Block Level Resource Mapping has now been replicated across CARE assisted blocks by the State Government. The use of tools has led to an overall increase in awareness in various stakeholder institutions. The same CDPO cited the example of various sarpanchs from various Gram Panchayats seeking information from the CDPO office regarding ICDS activities being carried out in their villages. CARE has also provided monitoring software to the CDPO office, which has helped the staff to monitor the process more efficiently. This has made the reporting and monitoring process more efficient. According to women in Bajitpura village of Bharatpur district of Rajasthan (illustration below) the monitoring system set up by the CARE has helped enormously in increasing the accountability of 23 CARE India Unravelling the Weave the ICDS. In fact, when a ranking of the institutions in the village was done, the the Anganwadi received 8/10, which is the highest level they have given to any institution. Figure 8: Institutional Analysis, Village Bajitpura, Block Nadbai, Dist Bharatpur, Rajasthan Strengthening systems Key informant interviews conducted with government officials in the Nabdai village of Bharatpur district revealed that after CAREfs intervention, coordination between the health staff and the AWW has improved and there is better implementation of government schemes due to the intervention of CARE in the region. Case study 02: RSVY Bankura Model The Planning Commission of Government of India has identified 130 backward districts in India based on incidence of poverty. Some of the indicators used are: . Value of output per agricultural worker . Agriculture wage rate . Percentage of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The main objective of this programme is to address the problems of pockets of high poverty, low growth and poor governance by putting in place programmes and policies which would remove the barriers of growth and accelerate the development process. The District Plans will have to be prepared by the respective district teams based on the natural advantage, resources and existing institutional support and the additionally to be used to serve the local needs, which will make a major impact on poverty eradication in the district in a time bound manner. The district will be free to choose the schemes but 24 CARE India Unravelling the Weave the strategy should focus on filling up critical gaps in social and physical infrastructure so that the obstacle in the path of socio - economic development and employment generation are overcome on a time bound manner. The most important aspects of this programme would be to ensure peoples participation, involvement of PRIs, NGOs and Self-Help Groups at every stage of planning, implementation and monitoring. Innovative ways of implementing schemes to ensure transparency, accountability and efficient delivery would be of paramount importance. Out of the 130 back word districts identified in the country so far, 8 districts are from West Bengal, selected in three phases. In the first phase RSVY has been initiated in Jalpaiguri and Purba Medinipur Districts. In the third phase, 4 districts have been identified, these are North and South Dinajpur, Birbhum and Bankura (All these are INHP districts with presence of District Teams). The Bankura District Magistrate officially requested CARE to participate as a partner in the process of developing, implementing and monitoring the programme. The DM particularly requested CARE to: 1) Conduct a Benchmark Survey in 59 GPs ( Rs 500,000 is ear marked for this, which CARE can access) 2) Design an MIS based on agreed indicators 3) Take up Capacity Building initiatives for the communities to be benefited and the Programme implementers ( Annual budget is Rs 3 million which CARE can access) 4) Develop a Web site based on the existing GIS depicting programmes undertaken in the 59 GPs 5) Develop community based institutions, systems and assets so that the programme could be phased over to the community based institutions at the end of the programme The impact of CAREs involvement of 6 to 7 months in the process of interacting with the line departments during preparation of log frame was very visible in all the three sites visited by us. The agriculture department introduced improved agriculture practices like better seeds, limited but need based use of fertilizer and optimal use of surface water for irrigation for wheat and mustard crops. The whole programme has been implemented through a group activity (a group of five marginal farmers / share croppers). What struck us most is the relationship between the line department staff and the people involved in the programme. This is no longer a relationship between benevolent giver and a passive receiver. The line department staff seems to have taken Einsteins quotation of expecting a different result by working in the same way is insanity very seriously. An interesting observation comes to light when the impact on institutional climate is looked at from the perspective of strengthening the systems in place. An example from INHP West Bengal brings forth the fact that Community-based Organizations and change agents through their efforts have been able to make the system more responsive and efficient. Being a community member, the AWW works closely with CBOs. To an AWW, CBOs have played the role of increasing health coverage (esp. immunization). The AWW could mobilize women to change from being just individuals to collectives and finally formal groups. In this state, at the end of INHP-II, there were more than 6500 CBOs (womens groups) at the AWC level, who are actively engaged in mobilizing communities for demand generation of basic health care services. CAREs partners NGOs were instrumental for this success. CARE has facilitated the AWWs skill building to develop CAs and to link them with CBOs through the ICDS system across all blocks. The present challenge is now to establish a linkage between the CAs & CBOs with a functional GUS for sustainability across all AWC area (gram sansad area). The experience of Bankura-I where 100% AWCS have CAs from CBOs developed by the RACHNA team can be utilized. Using the Power of Participatory Planning An example of SHGs doing micro planning and influencing local governance could be found in Sreema Mahila Samity (SMS), Nadia, West Bengal. In 2000, there was a devastating flood in the area. There was extensive damage to life and property due to the flood. After the flood, SMS started a project on Community Based Disaster Management (CBDP) where they have used the SHGs 25 CARE India Unravelling the Weave promoted by CASHE. The SHGs played a major role in the planning process which was done using PRA methodology. Gram Sansad-wise plans were prepared to combat any future natural calamity. The SHG members presented the plan at the Gram Sansad meeting and in most of the cases, the plan was accepted by the Gram Sansad, and funds were allocated for implementation of the plan by the Gram Panchayat. The people in the villages are now ready to face any calamity with confidence. In a similar example in CAREs SNEHAL programme, a village community facilitated by the PNGO and CARE has taken up village level micro-planning. During the process of micro-planning, the Panchayat was taken into confidence and responsibilities were shared. It also reflects how the village community as an institution came together to make their voice heard thereby ensuring that their system of governance became more accountable. Once the micro plan is in place, the village development committees along with the Gram Panchayat are responsible for implementation of the plan. The responsibility for the progress ultimately rests with the VDCs and not the NGO partners. As a result this has become an empowering process. Case Study 03: Micro-plan through Community Action Group Through the facilitation of Velugu Association and CARE-STEP staff, the micro-planning process was taken up by CAG, in the village of Bommika. Participatory tools were used to ensure participation of all the villagers in the micro-plan preparation by the CAG committee with the help of Velugu staff. Exercises such as the social map, time line and seasonal analysis were conducted (the analysis was predominantly conducted by male members of the village) and the details of the outputs were shared with the entire village in the evening. This however raises a question about the participation of the women of the village that are busy doing household chores and also of the landless who leave the village in the morning for daily wage labour. Though the planning was done in the morning the details were shared with the entire village in the evening and their suggestions incorporated into the plan. The prioritization of issues in the village were listed as land development, land to the landless, check dam construction, health sub-centre, housing, Anganwadi centre in the village, old people pension scheme, literacy for all and ration cards for all the villagers in order of priority. The team was told that copies of the micro-plan were sent to Velugu Association and the sarpanch of the village. A copy of the micro-plan remained in the village. After submitting the copy to the sarpanch, the CAG committee asked the sarpanch to contribute any way he could in the process. The sarpanch is said to have assured the CAG committee that he would look into the issues of old age pensions to the deserving in the village and ration cards to the villagers. As land development was a top priority in the problem identification, the CAG committee first approached the ITDA to seek its support. On being told by the ITDA that it could not take up land development in the village, the CAG committee approached CARE-STEP through Velugu Association. On receiving financial support from CARE, the programme started in earnest. The CARE-STEP PNGO Velugu Association and ITDA are said to have provided inputs such as cashew saplings and mango saplings for land development. Velugu Association also helped the villagers by providing technical and financial inputs for the construction of trenches. Providing Critical Feedback to the Government One of the mandates of SNEHAL is strengthening the health service delivery and building capacities of service providers. A quality assessment and validation study of health MIS was conducted for the Health Department. The critical components and findings of the study were shared with Government at the state level. The Government has accepted the study and has put it up on the website of the Health Dept. of the Govt. of Gujarat. The Government has decided to revise its health MIS. Enhancing Awareness An example from Chattisgarhs Bastar district shows that the awareness generated by CARE and its PNGO in the village or Taluk eventually led to the organization of a Gram Sabha on issues of health. 26 CARE India Unravelling the Weave During the Gram Sabha, discussions were held regarding the apathetic attitude of the people towards health issues. As has been mentioned earlier, this is an example of capacity building of the community to take up issues at a higher level thereby creating a change in the institutional climate. Institutional change in the context of urban areas can be elaborated by CHAYAN programme, which has been able to increase the awareness levels of urban governance bodies and the inclusion of HIV/AIDS in their programme. Moreover, because of CAREs intervention, the Government and the PNGOs have been able to increase their outreach to rickshaw-pullers, truck drivers, sex workers, adolescents and migrant labourers. The team has also come across an increase in efficiency of the AWW, and the health department staff due to adequate orientation provided by CARE and PNGO staff. A similar example can be cited from SNEHALs interventions from Kutch. CARE has been instrumental in creating awareness among the community to make the Government and the line departments answerable. Interactions with the community in Kutch district brought forth the point that after CAREs intervention, they have now started demanding answers from departments such as the Gujarat Maritime Board, the Fisheries department and the Public Works Department regarding issues of settlement. Moreover, the communities have also understood the use of the media to put pressure on the Government. An example is that of the fishing communities in Kutch presenting their case against the destruction of mangroves to the local media. Based on the situation analysis, baseline study, micro-planning and study on the status of the fishing community, the underlying causes of poverty were identified. The livelihood of the fishing community is threatened due to the pressure from developmental activities undertaken in the region during the last two decades. Allocation of vast areas of coastal lands for the development of special economic zones (SEZ), other developmental and industrial activities (salt pans, mining, ports, jetties etc.) and creation of infrastructure for the same has resulted in severe degradation of the natural resources. This degradation coupled with forced displacement of the fishing community to other areas is putting severe stress on their livelihood system. Considering the complexities of the issues faced by the fishing community that requires policy level interventions, SNEHAL organized a state level sensitization workshop on socio economic and ecological issues of the fishing community. The workshop put forth recommendations related to policy, knowledge, attitude and practice as well as to access and utilization of government schemes. The Government is committed to acting on these recommendations. For the first time, some degree of recognition has been given to the problems and to the welfare of the fishing community and a committee will be constituted comprising of community members and government and NGO representatives and academicians. This would be a first ever initiative on welfare of the fishing community. The fisheries department has agreed to take up SEZ concerns with the Chief Secretary of the Gujarat Government. One could say that SNEHAL Gujarat has taken the first steps towards creation of an enabling environment. Pressure groups In the CASHE and INHP-II programme in West Bengals Bankura district women formed into SHGs had pressurized the Panchayat to ensure that positions were reserved for three women from the SHG in the Gram Unnayan Samiti. The SHGs have also taken initiatives in making sure that people from the backward class community receive jobs under the 100 days job guarantee under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREG). This is an interesting example of how community led intervention by CARE and creation of the institution of SHG has helped in making the systems of formal institutions more efficient. 27 CARE India Unravelling the Weave SHGs have also been able to influence the Government of West Bengal to add another layer in the local governance system by amending the Panchayat Act. The Government has now created the Gram Unnayan Samiti (GUS), which will work as the executive arm of the Gram Sansad. There is a provision for representation of 2-3 SHG members in the GUS, although that was rarely adhered to. In many places, the GUS only took in members from SHGs promoted under the SGSY scheme of the Government. This was opposed by the CASHE SHGs and they forced the Panchayat to include members from their groups as well. This has made the GUS more representative and transparent in its working. Equipping communities In the STEP programme, an in-built concept of Action Oriented Learning (AOL) is present, which aims at building the capacities of the communities so that they can take up their own issues at a higher level. Case Study 04: Community Management of Development Activities As soon as CARE assured support for land development, the CAG committee established four working groups. The first group was to keep a note of the total people working. The second was to monitor the pace of work. The third was to take care of the payments to be made to the labourers, while the fourth was to document the process. Preference was given to the labourers from the same village first. The CAG committee decided the daily wage to be Rs.40 a day out of which the villagers decided to contribute Rs.5 as free labour. Unlike outside work sites both men and women were given equal wage. At the end of each day the groups used to assess the progress made against a daily schedule. The documents thus prepared were open to scrutiny by the villagers. Mutual understanding solved any problems arising in the process. The team was told that the villagers seldom accessed the documents. Apart from land development the CAG committee in the village of Bommika also facilitated the provision of old age pension, antyodaya cards to the poor in the village and the construction of a bus station near the village. One incident narrated by the CAG committee members, involved the suspension of a village secretary due to a complaint filed by the CAG committee to the ITDA Project Officer at Seetampeta. The village secretary had taken money from the villagers on the pretext of providing them land pattas, which he subsequently refused. On the basis of a complaint from the villagers through the CAG committee to the ITDA Project Officer, the village people were informed by the PO that if the allegations about the village secretary were found to be true then not only will the village secretary be suspended but the village would also get the longdesired check dam in the village. However, if the allegations were found to be false then the village would loose out on the check dam. On investigation the allegations of the villagers were found to be true and the ITDA Project Officer suspended him at a village meeting in the same village. The village secretary was also made to pay back the money she had taken from the villagers for the provisioning of land pattas. Keeping his promise to the villagers the PO ordered the construction of a check dam in the village. The team visited the check dam themselves and also the pond that was created for the storage of water. A similar example can be cited from West Bengal where through the facilitation of the CARE team a Community based Monitoring System has been evolved which has led to improved maternal and child health. Action Oriented Learning is the pivot of all project interventions of STEP. The AOL processes enable the tribal community to critically reflect, analyze and understand their socio-economic realities, followed by taking initiatives to make changes or actions. STEP operates on the premise that initiatives for change, undertaken by impoverished tribal communities are sustainable within the processes of participatory development where the poor operate not only as subjects of change but also as conscious agents of change. Therefore, all project activities are driven by community partnership and ownership and aim at strengthening empowerment and promoting livelihoods of tribal people through iterative processes of learning, reflection and action. 28 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Micro Level Plan (MLP) stands for a comprehensive development plan (which includes social, economic and political elements) prepared for a specific geographical area by the residents facilitated by external agencies. The geographical area can be a hamlet, village or a cluster of villages. In the case of tribal areas, MLPs are generally prepared keeping habitations as the units of development. The most crucial aspect of micro level planning is that it is a process rather than an activity in itself. The MLP prepared through the process is a living document, which is revisited periodically as each current planning cycle feeds into the next one. STEP has initiated micro level planning processes in all the 6200 habitations under the project area. Micro level planning processes incorporate all steps of AOL such as reflection, identification, action, monitoring, review and learning, followed again by reflection. Micro level planning process strengthens the ability of the disadvantaged, through the process of self-determination, to participate, negotiate, change, and hold accountable the institutions that affect their well being, leading to an increase in their capabilities and assets. The specific objectives are: Informed citizens are better equipped to take advantage of opportunities, access services, exercise their rights, and hold state and non-state actors accountable. Capacity building, animation techniques and awareness campaigns in STEP for communities/ CBOs mainly focus on building awareness, knowledge levels and establishing mechanisms for communities especially womens access to information. Opportunities for poor people and other excluded groups to participate in decision making are critical to ensure that use of limited public resources builds on local knowledge and priorities, and brings about commitment to change. Active participation of all sections of the communities, especially the most vulnerable forms the basis of the MLP process. State officials, public employees, and private actors must be held answerable for their policies, actions, and use of funds. Government agencies, both administrative and political, and firms must have horizontal or internal accountability mechanisms, and must also be accountable to the citizens and clients for their performance. Thus, the service delivery system is sensitized and caters to the exact needs of the community as they are clearly articulated and demanded in the MLP. Organized communities are more likely to have their voices heard and their demands met. The MLP process equips communities to plan and work together to identify, prioritize and resolve issues. It unites the entire community and provides them with an opportunity to get their voices heard. The project through its PNGOs animates and supports the communities to critically reflect upon, analyze and identify their socio-economic realities, through the participatory process of Action Oriented Learning (AOL) for developing Community Action Plans (CAPs) or Micro Level Plans (MLPs). The AOL processes offer participatory learning mechanisms for the community to identify and prioritize their problems and plan the requisite needs to address them. Community led micro level planning offers the unique opportunity to the tribal communities to intensively engage in addressing their basic needs/ problems related to livelihoods and land alienation, forest rights, food security, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, education - the multiple dimensions that make for 'quality of life'. This process is sustained by reviewing the MLPs or CAPs every six months. The entire cycle is of six months duration. After every six months, a new cycle begins with revisiting of the MLP, which emerges from the previous cycle. An example of the Action Oriented Learning has been the formation of Community Action Groups and the creation of village level micro-plans through the community. 29 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Community Based Monitoring System As part of institutionalization of community based health and nutrition (H&N) monitoring system, CARE promoted the concept of local volunteers (CAS) and linked them with the CBOs (including SHGs) at the AWC level for better community managed health and nutrition activities. To support this initiative, the CBOs monitor household level behaviour by using community based monitoring tools (for example preparation of due list, weighing of children, including nutritional audits through a tool called At a glanceEk Nazar etc.). Currently, the CBOs with the active support of the AWW counsel the mothers on issues related to new born care practices, infant feeding practices, and routine immunization including hands on training on feeding demonstration, weighing of children and growth monitoring on regular basis in all graduation blocks. They also make home visits as follow up action. Among AWCs, in 50% of them, CBMS is regularly updated by CBOs, CAs and the AWW along with mothers. In 20% of the AWCs, there is evidence to show some action taken on the basis of CBMS analysis jointly by the CBO, PRI, and AWW to address the issue of malnutrition and drop out/ left outs from health services. CARE had used different processes including participatory action research (PAR) for strengthening CBOs and increasing their motivation to support CBMS. With the influence of the PAR process, the CBOs are empowered to raise the health and nutrition issues at the gram sansad meeting and influenced the PRI to act on them. All these actions at the community level are considered as a composite package of Baby Friendly Community Initiative-BFCI. The future challenge is to facilitate the process of involving all types of CBOs at the community level on planning and monitoring, especially on H&N issues and to include them in the GUS perspective plan. Power of Federating The CASHE programme of CARE gave the team the opportunity for insights in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. For example, in the villages of Warangal district, the team came across Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies (MACS), which had been formed from individual SHGs in the village. The MACS were further organized into a federation. These federations took loans directly from commercial banks such as the HDFC and the ICICI and passed on that loan to individual SHGs. According to the CASHE team, due to this process SHG members can access bigger loans. This is very important in the sense that for the first time in the area formal financial institutions are coming forward to lend to SHG federation. This has happened due to the facilitation of CASHE both at SHG/ Federation level on the one hand and advocacy with the bankers on the other hand. In fact, one of the SHG members, Gosia Begum told the team how her life changed after she had joined the SHG under the CASHE programme. The CASHE project has enabled SHGs and higher level structures such as federations to access loans from formal financial institutions such as commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks. In Andhra Pradesh, the MACS have accessed finances from ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and UTI Bank. Due to CASHEs facilitation, partner organizations in West Bengal were able to access loan funds from commercial banks such as SBI, UCO Bank, Bank of India etc. This has enabled the partners to provide loans to SHG members. Insurance companies (both public and private) have come forward to collaborate with CASHE partners. Partners have signed agreements with ICICI Lombard, Royal Sundaram, HDFC, NIC for providing Life, General and Health insurance to our clients. So far more than 50% (around 1.5 Lac) of the clients have been covered under different insurance schemes. So this also shows the way market forces have come forward to have a mutually beneficial partnership. 30 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Another example of SHGs exploiting the market is the collaboration with Hindustan Lever. In Medak district, one MACS promoted by Navjyoti is collaborating with HLL to produce consumer goods like soaps, detergent powder etc. They also process and package raw materials such as rice, dal, sugar. They sell these products in the local market. Hindustan Lever provides them with technical support in the areas of production, packaging and marketing of the products. This example shows how apex bodies of the SHGs can access and benefit from collaboration with market forces. Another example is the Agaria Hitrakshak Manch (AHRM), which is a group of 40 organizations working for the agarias (salt workers) whom CARE supports as a part of the SNEHAL programme. The AHRM since its inception has been working as an informal group of organizations, co-operative societies and individuals. The Manch has reached a level where the Government and other stakeholders are ready to share the dais with it. CARE intends to see the Manch as a separate and independent organization and would like to reach out wider and make the advocacy base stronger. To achieve this, it becomes very important to create a constant dialogue with the community and other stakeholders such as cooperative owners, traders, PRI, and government agencies etc. Along with advocacy and grass-root activities, the Manch has also started taking up technical studies such as hydrological study and ecological, geological study for the development of the Little Rann of Kutch. Having become an institutions and forum for advocacy, the Manch started working on awareness generation and created a voice for the salt pan community. With pressure from SNEHAL, NGOs and the Supreme Court (due to a PIL), the Agariya Hitrakshak Manch was invited to join the Empowered Committee, which is a high level policy making body and which until recently was constituted of only government representatives. This was due to the recommendations of the Ministry of Industries, which made a case for the Manchs inclusion in the committee. This has been an important development. An illustration of the importance of committee membership is the use of the salt cess, which can now be used effectively and efficiently for the welfare of the salt pan workers. Earlier, it was used for activities that did not benefit the salt pan workers much or for which funds have been already earmarked under different schemes such as roads or school building construction. Other issues of advocacy and rights of salt pan workers, which were invisible to policy makers, can now be highlighted. These include pushing for a comprehensive plan for the welfare and development of the salt pan community. As is evident from the above-mentioned example, the AHRM has been able to bring about a credible change in the policy environment of the State towards the salt workers. Although the AHRM has activist leanings, CARE has supported the Manch in its activities. This brings to light the point that where CARE has found it difficult to get involved directly in activist activities, it has tried to bring about a change in an indirect fashion. As in the case of the salt pan workers or the fishing community, since it is difficult for CARE to get involved directly with the more formal institutions given the constraints of time and finances, a step taken in this direction therefore has been to support institutions that have been taking up issues with the formal organizations. 31 CAREs Impact on Traditional Institutions The text below outlines CAREs PNGOs and the institutions formed by both of them which have been able to bring about a change in traditional institutions. In several villages it was evident that there had been a change in the overall climate created by traditional institutions. CARE India Unravelling the Weave Collectives help individuals to speak up When studying the INHP programme of CARE and its implementation in the Gajwel ICDS in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, the team found that the use of various tools and the presence of CAs has led to women in the area becoming much more vocal about their maternal needs and were in fact able to pressurize their husbands and mothers-in-law to take them to Primary Health Centres (PHC) for IFA tablets and vaccinations of the children. In effect, there had been a change in the attitudes and behaviour of the males in the family towards reproductive needs of their wives. Interaction with the Mothers Committee set up by CARE in the village, revealed that it was able to put pressure on the AWW and also the higher ups for effective service delivery. The Gajwel model therefore stands out as an example of efficient community level intervention by CARE which has led to an increase in the individual and collective capacities of the community. Taking the family again as an example, CAREs CASHE programme provides some interesting examples of empowering processes. The case study of Gosia Begum in Chapter 6 (case study no. 05) shows how she was able bring about a change in the gender equation in the family and also how she was able to break some myths about women. Building confidence to deal with external world CASHE focuses specifically on women and has enabled women in its intervention areas to challenge some of the norms in the society. For example, women from Annaram Sharief and Galivari Gudam have now become empowered enough to negotiate with bankers directly, hitherto a male domain. In truth, in Annaram Sharief the MACS is totally owned and managed by the women. They take all the decisions regarding the functioning of the MACS. Earlier, the salary of the MACS staff was provided by CARE. Now however, due to the efficient management by the women, the MACS has become financially sustainable and pays its managers a salary from its profit. This demonstrates the level of confidence of the women. Including the excluded The CASHE programme through the involvement of marginalized sections such as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the ambit of the programme has also led to a reduction in the marginalization of these communities. The SNEHAL project in Gujarat also abounds with examples in which women have taken the reins of their lives into their own hands and also how institutions supported by PNGOs and CARE have begun making efforts to change the entrenched caste structure in the village society. For example, women dairy cooperatives in Surendra Nagar and women SHGs in Kutch district have led to the women becoming more confident and assertive which has led to the betterment of their social position in the household. An example can also be cited of Kutch district where awareness generation among the women has been able to reduce blind faith and superstition. Special mention here needs to be made of the dairy cooperative in the Tikar village of Halvad block of Surendra Nagar district. Here, a woman from the Scheduled Caste community was elected the milk tester for the dairy cooperative. 32 Chapter Summary In summary, both formal and traditional institutions play a critical role in how CAREs rights based approached programming unfolds. In a diverse set of examples throughout the sample districts, Praxis learned how CAREs innovative approaches are improving accessibility to and transparency of these institutions. Broadened accessibility lends itself to participation of marginalized communities in critical CARE India Unravelling the Weave decision making processes that they were otherwise alienated from in the past. The transformation of these pivotal relations are gradual and by no means complete, yet the progress made thus far indicates significant strides forward for marginalized communities. 33 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Chapter 5 34 CARE Indias Impact on Social and Political Structures Social and political structures, in a general sense, refer to entities or groups in definite relation to each other, to relatively enduring patterns of behaviour and relationships within social and political systems, or to social and political institutions and norms becoming embedded in social and political systems in such a way that they shape the behaviour of actors within those systems. This emphasises the idea that society has groups or sets of roles, with different functions, meanings or purposes, which are nevertheless related to one another. An example in this regard could be that of "social stratification," which refers to the idea that society is separated into different strata, according to social distinctions such as a race, class and gender. Social treatment of persons within various social structures can be understood as related to their placement within the various social strata. The more powerful groups control the entry and exit options of the less powerful and prevent or limit their participation and voice in economic, political and social life, often along ethnic lines; while those who belong benefit, the unequal access to power based on ethnicity can generate conflict. Picking up the thread from here, we can say that societies are always stratified to a greater or a lesser degree and therefore empowerment outcomes are also mediated by the nature of social and political structures and the extent to which they are open or closed, inclusive or exclusionary, cooperative or create conflict. In this chapter, the impact that CARE and CARE-supported organizations have had on the social and political structures in a given context are examined. A broad design would therefore look at the impact of CAREs influence on the political structures first and then the social structures. It is clear though, that these structures cannot be considered mutually exclusive, and need to be understood as influential forces upon one another. CAREs impact on political structures During the course of the study in the five states where CAREs programmes are being implemented, it was observed that CARE specifically and also through its PNGO is working at various levels. In some cases, CAREs intervention is subtle, while in some cases overt action taken by CARE influences the political structures to a great extent. This shall examine how CAREs intervention has improved the efficiency of various arms in the political structure and brought them closer to the people. In addition, one could study how CAREs interventions have made people more aware, which creates a greater degree of openness, participation, efficiency, transparency, and accountability. STEP Programme To fully understand the role of political structures, it is necessary to analyse their intertwined relationships with local institutions. An example of the change in political structure is from the STEP programme in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh where a committee set up by the STEP team has been instrumental in brining ITDA closer to the community. In the same process, other political entities such as the Panchayat and the MDO have also become more sensitive to the community. CARE India Unravelling the Weave This has been made possible through the comprehensive efforts of STEP in not only creating demand from the community but also strengthening the systems to better respond to the demands through close collaboration with the ITDA in all the four districts where STEP is implemented. Apart from this, STEP has also consciously tried to avoid duplication of processes but has instead tried to strengthen the existing systems. One of the examples is how the project has linked the community planning process to the PRIs. It has taken the community planning process forward and linked it to the Gram Sabha wherein all community plans are ratified and recognized by the Panchayats and given priority in usage of its funds. This has been made possible by the projects initiative in facilitating the Gram Sabha at the Panchayat level and linking community planning and the revisiting process to the six-monthly Gram Sabha conducted at the Panchayat level. Apart from this, the project has also undertaken to strengthen the local self governance system through capacity building of Panchayat members on their roles and responsibilities so that these institutions become more efficient. The Panchayat Secretary, who is responsible for administrative functions at the Panchayat level and is key to the equitable distribution of benefits, has also been trained and enlisted as a key in the community planning process. These initiatives have enabled the PRIs to become more representative and sensitive to the needs of the tribal communities ensuring accountability and transparency not only among the administration, but also with the representatives of local self governance institutions. Chattisgarh initiatives and processes towards impact on social and political structures: Special Gram Sabhas on health and nutrition are organised through advocacy efforts in certain districts and with the initiative of the District Administration, to discuss matters pertaining solely to the health and nutritional well being of the community. Such sabhas have been held in the districts of Durg, Kawardha, Kanker and Bastar. Impact/outcome of the process: The importance of the issues of good health and nutrition has been realised by the administration, peoples organizations, PRI and the community alike. The meetings ensure that only health issues are discussed to avoid getting side tracked. Change agents become change leaders During the recently concluded Panchayat elections, CARE, and its partners together with other bilateral agencies and national NGOs undertook a campaign to get good leaders from within the community. Over 20,000 pamphlets were printed (with the organization PRIA) and distributed. About 10,000 CAs/CBOs/SHG members who had already been sensitised about issues of health and nutrition have been elected. The sensitization process has resulted in the quorum being achieved and the main agenda of health and nutrition featuring in the discussions. Impact / outcome of the process: Women trained on the issues of health and nutrition were elected to various positions in the PR tier. The quorum is also achieved during Gram Sabhas and women at many places have been provided with a forum to talk about issues that are important for them, such as nutrition and health. Within CAREs current programme in the state, about 700 melas will be held to mobilize three and a half lakh people. Approximately Rs.28 lakhs has been allocated for this initiative. CARE is also printing 2 lakh leaflets which would serve as Take Home Messages for beneficiaries at the mela/Samawaya Samelan. 35 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Impact / outcome of the process: A forum for advocacy has been created where issues for the community are highlighted before the service providers, PR representatives and other elected representatives try to look for solutions. This forum becomes a platform for providing the community with key messages and also for building the capacities of the service providers. Legal-Aid Awareness Campaign Conducted in CAREs urban areas, these have helped in providing the target groups (migrant workers, truckers, rickshaw pullers) with information about their entitlements in health services. Impact / outcome of the process: raised awareness about the rights and entitlements. Samanway process The Samanway programme was initiated to address excluded/drop-out population in communities, by making the health and nutrition service delivery system a transparent one. This was to be done through wide publicity of the rosters so as to enable the community to hold service providers accountable for delivering proper services. Impact/ outcome of the process . Addressing exclusion through active involvement of PRIs and other womens groups . Established a platform for convergence of health and nutrition services in the form of Samanway to track left-out and drop-out beneficiaries . Panchayats discuss health and nutrition issues including the RTI/STI management during Gram Sabhas . Joint sector meetings of Health & W&CD with realigned sectors . Human and financial resources converging (joint training of AWW, ANM and the Panchayat Secretaries) . Sira Gunia- Baiga Sammellan-The sirrha, gunia and baiga sammelans were organized by CARE which in turn was recognized and owned by the system. These sammelans were held to mainstream the traditional healer for referrals as well as for legal mainstreaming. In consequence, the traditional healers now refer many patients to the formal health care system. The sirrha, gunia and baiga community people even function as depot holders now. Stree Vichaare Stree Vichaare or 'Women's Views' as the name suggests is a unique initiative by the Raipur district team and its PNGO to address the health and nutrition situation through a group of women members from the community. Stree Vichaare comprises a select mixed group of PRI, SHG, AWW, CA, CBO and beneficiaries at the village level who monitor NHDs, Take Home Ration, Take Home Messages and proper use of the ICDS ration in households. These women also have an agenda while conducting home visits that includes identifying the vulnerable families at the village level and target the unreached in various hamlets. Through 'Stree Vichaare', women from 5-6 villages conduct effective home visits for proper targeting and counselling on critical issues. They observe the practices followed at the home front, come back and discuss the gaps identified and then try and solve the issues. These women members have taken up the challenge of targeting one very malnourished child and one sick/weak child in each village and chalk out an action plan for remedial measures. They are actively supported in their work by the AWW, Self-Help Group members, Panchayat members, etc. They have also voiced their opinions at important forums such as Gram Sabhas, Gram Sachivalayas and also through the 36 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Gram Suraaj Abhiyan. These groups also play a key role in boosting the confidence and morale of otherwise weak women's groups who further take up the issues at their village level with more vigour and enthusiasm. Home visits are also a regular practice with all the service providers; efficacy is ensured due to peer pressure from these groups of women members who counsel parents and help in effective planning towards solutions. Home visit counselling focuses on ration dilution and addressing left outs/ dropouts; issues such as intra household gender disparities are given prominence while chalking out solutions to various problems/ gaps at the household level. There are instances where the mindset of people was changed due to group pressure from the women. Issues relating to exclusion are regularly taken up in various meetings to assess malnutrition levels and necessary steps are taken for appropriate complementary feeding. In the last few months, more than 10,000 women through 365 Stree Vichaare sessions have contacted 1500 households and got them into mainstream service delivery. As a result, womens participation in getting solutions to their problems (socio/ economic/ intra - inter household) through the Panchayat / Government has increased. Finally, this process has contributed to bringing about greater transparency and accountability in the entire service delivery process. From other parts of CAREs programmatic areas similar examples can be cited where CAREs intervention at the community and systems level has led to the environment becoming more conducive for the community. Increasing the participation of urban local bodies An example from the urban site of Raipur where CARES CHAYAN programme is being implemented is greater involvement of the president, vice president and municipal councillors in project activities. This points to the increased participation of urban local bodies in the project activities undertaken by CARE. This example also makes clear how participation can be looked at from two different perspectives - community participation in project activities at one level and in the political processes at another level. It is also important for different political entities to participate in the processes relevant to the community. Through this process, not only do the political entities become more sensitive to the needs of the people but also increase the access of the people to their representatives. It also goes without saying that this process does have a ripple effect in terms of the changes it can bring about in the political structure as a whole. Panchayat members in Nutrition Health Days- Bastar A similar example comes from Talur village of Bastar district of Chattisgarh where CAREs INHP programme is being implemented. The team found that even Panchayat members have taken an interest in attending NHDs due to which the awareness regarding health issues has increased. There was even a special Gram Sabha organized only to discuss issues of health. In the village of Upanpal in Bastar district of Chattisgarh, efficient implementation of the INHP programme by CAREs PNGO has led to Panchayat meetings taking place twice a month, whilst even when a Panchayat is efficient, Panchayat meetings are held only once a month. As a result of people becoming aware, the Panchayat reassessed the existing BPL list and added 29 more families to it. This example clearly emphasizes that community level intervention has helped in strengthening the systems in place in the community. Another indication of government participation comes from the cobweb analysis done at Dhamsarai village of Anantagiri mandal of Andhra Pradesh where government staff members during an interview with the team mentioned that many of them have participated in CARE 37 CARE India Unravelling the Weave programmes, particularly those related to health. They have also been present during meetings held with CARE about improving convergence between the service delivery of the various departments. PRI members have also participated in trainings about grain banks and attended PESA awareness meetings in Hyderabad. Figure 9: Cobweb Analysis of key services with government officials of Anantgiri Mandal, Andhra Pradesh The ANM at this interview with the government officials pointed out that due to better coordination, she is now more aware of where to conduct her medical camps, and whom to vaccinate. She is aware of this, since the STEP staff, such as the community coordinator, informs her of who requires more attention, since they interact more closely with the village community. A majority of the officials agreed that STEP has made a real difference in enabling self-sufficiency in drinking water in the villages, and that their intervention regarding dropouts is also commendable. PRI participation in health activities at all levels was a major challenge in West Bengal in the early days of INHP-II. To involve them effectively, CARE made use of all the convergent forums at the Gram Sansad and GP levels to make them functional. Community-based sessions were conducted to enhance the knowledge and skills of PRI members to ensure health and nutrition surveillance at the community level. As part of the surveillance process, SHGs conducted household level health surveys to develop Gram Sansad level micro-plans. These SHGs under the guidance of the PRI analyzed the data and ranked the specific health and nutrition issues to be addressed as part of the Gram Sansad plans. As follow up of the plan, the PRI made the AWW and ANM accountable to cater basic health services to the intended beneficiaries. The PRI and SHG ensure monitoring of the nutritional status of young children and compliance of other health services at the GS as well as GP level with appropriate management actions. As the PRI is the nodal agency of all SHGs, they have 38 CARE India Unravelling the Weave logical linkages with them and have strategically understood the importance of involving CBOs (SHGs, GUS etc.) in public health interventions at the village level. Realignment of Health and ICDS blocks- Bharatpur district Realignment of health and ICDS blocks has taken place in the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan and also in the Bastar district of Chattisgarh. The realignment of the blocks has led to better efficiency in service delivery, better access to both and ICDS services to the people. This is one of the examples, which depict CAREs role in making a structural change in a political sense. Though the CARE staff faced many obstacles during the process, CARE persisted and was able to convince the district level functionaries to realign the blocks. Women in Gram Sabha In Bankura district of West Bengal, site of CAREs CASHE and INHP-II convergence, CARE along with its PNGO has been able to build the capacities of the women to attend the Gram Sabha. The local NGO Bikash being a common partner of CAREs CASHE and INHP-II programmes, communicated to the women that it was their right to participate in the sansad meeting and that by not attending it they were depriving themselves of their right. Bikash staff also facilitates discussions about various issues in cluster meetings, and encourages the community women to go to Panchayat office whenever there is a problem at the village level. The PNGO had also informed the community of their roles in the Village Development Samiti called the Gram Unnayan Samiti and the Panchayat. At many places, Gram Panchayats have provided space in the Panchayat bhawan for cluster meetings. A cobweb exercise conducted in the village of Sandalpore in the district Midnapore in West Bengal on the issues of TAPEG brought out the following: . Participation of communities in gram sansad has increased . Womens groups have raised the issues of alcoholism and other social evils . Economic empowerment of women through SHGs is visible Figure 10: Cobweb analysis conducted by CARE-MOLD team in the village of Sandalpore village, Midnapore district, West Bengal 39 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Systemic level processes In Bankura district, CARE through the following systemic level processes has been trying to bring about a change in political structure and facilitate better interaction between not just the community and various political entities but also better coordination among various government departments. Forum meetings are conducted at all levels for sustainable flow of information on identified gaps and to initiate sector level decisions for immediate action. Community Health and Nutrition meetings: are convergence meetings of the ICDS and Health Department, which are held regularly. The departments share their sector specific information on child birth, infant death, immunization records (left out and drop out), and registration (ANC checkup of pregnant women) Community health care and management initiative: This meeting is conducted at the Gram Panchayat office. It is attended by the Panchayat Pradhan, PRI members, ICDS Supervisor, AWWss, Health Supervisor, Health Assistant (male and female), Gram Unnayan Samiti members and Self Help Group members. Issues discussed include infrastructure, problems related to supplies, sanitation coverage, special drives, registration of births and deaths, institutional and home delivery coverage, identifying malnutrition, weighing of children, centre visits and home visits. These meetings are held regularly and resolutions are drafted for specific intervention. Structured partnership between CARE and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) INHP II from the start was designed to have a clear graduation policy for every state. In West Bengal, as a strategy, PRIs and CBOs (mainly SHGs) were to be involved in the programme, as important governance and community level partners. In Patrasayar and Indas blocks, the absence of any NGO on the development scene made CARE encourage the ICDS to take up the responsibility of developing the Demonstration Site. It was planned that INHP II interventions would be implemented in two blocks through Panchayat bodies as an experiment, to demonstrate at the district level that the lowest tier of governance structure (Gram Panchayat) could be successfully involved in implementing, promoting, monitoring and sustaining health and nutrition activities by themselves in future. This idea was revolutionary in the sense that it sought to establish a way of involving the Panchayat in issues such as health and nutrition, which do not normally merit attention in a normal Gram Sabha meeting. Working closely with the Panchayat was also seen as an opportunity to understand its system of operations and modalities for greater insight on the graduation process. The proposal was to work with one Gram Panchayat (GP) and scale it up across the block in other GPs for replication of the learnt experience. The pilot work was initiated in 2 GPs (Narayanpur and Jamkuri) of Patrasayar block after the Executive Officer of Panchayat Samiti suggested taking up 2 remote GPs situated in difficult geographic areas. A 4-month contract was thus signed with Patrasayar Panchayat Samiti and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the State Programme representative, CARE and the Executive Officer, Patrasayar Panchayat Samiti. The proposal was designed and implemented as soon as the MOU was signed. The pilot was aimed at understanding whether the PRIs favoured this partnership; whether they could manage CAREs resources judiciously, whether they could implement any project mode operation; and lastly, to gauge how the political system accepted CARE in their development plans. During the next four months (March to June 2004), the following activities took place: 40 CARE India Unravelling the Weave . Block level orientation workshop, with the BDO, Sabhapati, 2 GP Pradhans, karmadhyakshyas, Panchayat samiti members and Zilla Parishad members. A discussion on the role of PRIs promoting community health and nutrition took place, in which the Sabhapati explained the choice of GPs for the pilot. . GP level inauguration took place in each of the GPs on different dates where block level PRI members explained the nature of work to be undertaken in the pilot areas. CARE representatives explained the objectives and expected the outcomes of the proposed project. . A 2-day workshop was organized in the two GPs on involvement of PRIs, AWW, ANM and community leaders in health and nutrition through recommended best practices. The block training team (BTT) and the CARE district team facilitated a joint capacity building session. An action plan was developed for proper implementation of the proposed activities within the given time. . In 21 Anganwadi centres from the 2 GPs, Nutrition & Health Days were planned on fixed dates. More than 170 change agents were identified and trained by the AWW, ANM and PRI members. Change agents identified their area of operation and started mapping their own area for tracking behaviour change. . A GP level meeting with the members, AWW, ANMs organized and reviewed all activities. . The process of developing social Maps in 11 AWCs of Narayanpur GP started by the PRI members and AWWs. . A block level advisory committee meeting was organized where BLRM was rolled out. The CARE district team facilitated the updating of the BLRM. With the participation of the GP Pradhans in the meeting, the BLRM was used to solve issues like setting up a new sub centre in the GP, vacant ANM position in the Narayanpur sub centre, which serves a population of more than 7000. . GPs were entrusted with the responsibility of identifying CBOs (SHGs) for training on health and nutrition. . GPs identified spots for wall writing on health and nutrition. Promotion of programme objectives through folk songs of folk artists at several places including Gram Sansad meeting took place. Based on this experience, several areas for future partnership with PRI were identified. These are: . Given its ability to mobilize people for development needs, the PRI could be engaged in developing community level volunteers for promoting health information and for counselling. . Given its political backing, the PRI is capable of promoting public awareness at the grassroots level on several issues . PRIs are capable of strengthening community based organizations and local youth club. CARE saw in Gram Unnayan Samiti (GUS) a potent CBO linked to the PRI, which could be involved in community level development. . CARE encouraged the PRI functionaries to support GUS in formulating, implementing and monitoring peoplefs developmental plans. Soon after, PRI partnership was scaled up to Bankura I and Indas blocks. In the former, two GPs were taken up, namely Kenjakura and Anchuri. In the latter, one GP (Karisunda) was taken up, which was exclusively managed by elected women members. This was an opportunity to see how women in power advocated for issues such as Health and Nutrition. 41 CARE India Unravelling the Weave 42 Key milestones of PRI Partnership During the period 2004-06, several milestones were achieved in the course of the CARE-PRI partnership in the 5 GPs across three blocks. Community level volunteers, and CAs were mobilized for health promotion activities, SHGs were identified and provided an orientation on development issues. In Jamkuri (Patrasayar) and Karisunda (Indas) remarkable progress was made. There was better convergence of health and nutrition services due to proper planning of NHDs and due to the display of NHD dates in public places like the GP office. Health and nutrition issues were taken up as an agenda in Gram Sansad meetings and the Zilla Parishad helped CARE develop a poster on health for the Gram Sabha, which was distributed across all GPs in the district. The expertise of the GPs in effective behaviour change communication and awareness building of the community was also developed through various media. Selected functionaries of the PRI from the pilot GPs received training in micro level planning. Thus, they are now better equipped to facilitate Gram Sansad wise micro-planning on varied developmental needs of the community and can support the GUS better. The formation of the GUS in all the 5 GPs with few exceptions was smooth and went according to plan. CARE supported all 3 Panchayat Samitis (blocks) with training and BCC materials on the GUS for proper formation of the GUS. The process of forming the GUS has received institutional recognition and was spearheaded in Karisunda GP. The same process was replicated across 10 GPs of the same block- Indas. CARE has provided technical and financial support to at least 75 such GUS in 3 blocks. To ensure transparency, accountability, participation and minimization of exclusions, CARE facilitated the PRI to conduct CB for the GUS on a regular basis. CARE was the first agency in the State to provide financial support to all 75 GUS for conducting public health awareness events through partnership with 5 GPs in 3 blocks. The GUS are presently developing micro-plans at the GS level and identifying gaps to address at the community level, especially to address malnutrition of younger children and safe delivery of pregnant mothers of the area. They are also involved in total sanitation campaigning (TSC). In this, they are helped by the training provided by CARE on health, nutrition and leadership, whereby they are able to develop action plans for their GP areas. Under Community Health Care Management Initiatives (CHCMI) of the Panchayat and the Rural Development Department and the Government of West Bengal, the SHGs are expected have to conduct family health surveys to develop a baseline. This would help the GUS in developing information banks at the village level. In all 5 GPs, the PRI members did the survey. CARE developed software for analyzing this data and provided all the reports to the GPs, encouraging them to spearhead the micro-level planning process involving the community, under the leadership of the GUS. Currently, in all 5 GPs, at least 200 SHGs are members of the 75 GUS. 150 SHGs were trained on CHCMI and all of them conduct household level health surveys in Bankura-I and Patrasayer blocks. In Bankura-I block, this activity was scaled in all 6 GPs. Out of 6 GPs, 3 have already completed the HHL survey by SHGs from the GUS and the data is analyzed by GPFT. The GUS in Kenjakura have already developed health micro plans (as per CHCMI guidelines) on the basis of the findings of the HHL survey in 16 GUS. They now plan to submit these to the GP for incorporating them into the GP level perspective plan for the next year. The Panchayat Samiti is awaiting the micro-plans for developing a block level public health perspective plan. Once it is ready, it would be the ever first plan at any GP level following this process in the district. CARE is providing technical and financial CARE India Unravelling the Weave support to this CHCMI project in the district to the District Public Health Cell (DPHC) for 3 blocks at the district PRI (Zilla Parisad) in Bankura district. CARE facilitated the Block Health & Family Welfare Samiti meetings in Indas and Bankura I for rolling out the CHCMI. All GPs conduct regular meetings of Siksha o Janaswasthya Upa Samiti meeting with all AWWs, ANMs and PRI members on a fixed day of the month. Enabling factors for successful forging of partnership with the PRI in Bankura district CARE West Bengal had started effective discussions with the state PRI sectors for incorporating INHP II interventions in their Community Health Care Management Initiatives to improve health status in future. These discussions also helped put in place a programmatic system and structure and convinced the PRI of INHPs vision of empowered communities and responsive systems. The result was a Government Order to form a Gram Unnayan Samiti in all Gram Sansad areas. A study in Gujarat where CAREs SNEHAL programme is operationalized through the assistance of its partners brought forth some interesting findings. CARE and SNEHAL representatives are on state level advisory committees along with the relevant government departments. This helps CARE and its partners to discuss issues of health, education, livelihoods and others with the concerned departments and also advocate on these. For instance, Gantar has represented the case of inactive village health committees, absent ANMs in district level health meetings and brought these important issues to the notice of the authorities. This representation has also helped Gantar to do a follow-up on issues of water provision or absence of water provision in its intervention areas, with the District Development Officer. Complementing government efforts -- SNEHAL, Gujarat SNEHAL has identified individuals who take a keen interest in the social issues of their village. For instance, in Miyana, the village dai or the traditional birth attendant along with the village level health worker undertook charge of the immunization drive. The dais involvement helped in the success of the programme as her familiar presence encouraged people to bring their infants and children to the Anganwadi centre. Gantar maintains a record of the services provided by the Government in the intervention villages, which it shares with the health officials. Gantar and the community it works with i.e. the saltpan workers support the district health authorities in planning the visits schedule of the ambulance service. The community will eventually monitor the ambulance services, which will no longer be the sole responsibility of the health department. CARE has trained the Governments frontline workers such as the AWWs, traditional birth attendants and village health workers to implement the pre-education as well as maternal and child health component and hopes thereby to bring about convergence. Convergence of resources - private public partnership in SNEHAL, Gujarat In order to ensure the optimum and efficient use of public funds for the activities that emerged out of the community based micro-plan process and to create greater impact, CARE strove to draw funds which are earmarked by government departments in their annual budgets for project related activities. This helps cover shortfall in funds, prevents diversion of funds as well as duplication of efforts of the Government and CARE. For instance, SNEHALs partners have proposed projects on makeshift shelters, insurance packages and salt parks for saltpan workers. One of the intended processes of micro planning under SNEHAL is to converge with government and CARE resources in the implementation of the outcomes. SNEHALs initiative towards education The children of salt pan workers are often unable to attend the village school. Many had their names withdrawn by school authorities or they were denied permission to appear for exams for reasons of 43 CARE India Unravelling the Weave low attendance. In 1995, Gantar began to set up schools in the Rann for these children. These became popular amongst the Agariyas (salt pan workers). To build ownership of the people over these schools, Gantar requested the Agariyas to build huts for these schools. Gantar approached the state education department to permit these school students to write the state boards exams. There were a number of snags in this work. Several children did not possess birth certificates, a few having been born in the Rann or due to the inability of their parents to register their births in time with the local Panchayat. Gantar persisted in their efforts and convinced the state education authorities to accept the childrens ages based on rough calculations of the parents. The children were permitted to take exams but several failed. Gantar then took legal recourse for justice and got the children cleared for the next academic session. Subsequently, with a Supreme Court order things became smoother. There is now a provision for alternative schools for the children of saltpan workers under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. These are then linked to PNGOs of SNEHAL and provide for the Agariyas childrens attendance to be sent to the parent school. The schools have recently received government recognition; they use state education department prescribed syllabus and run classes up to the seventh standard. Similar work has been undertaken in the areas of the fishing community in Kutch. Here, local level initiatives i.e. of the NGO partner and SNEHAL have resulted in such feeder schools for children of the fishing community. The fishing community too has similar problems as have the salt pan workers in terms of being unorganized, vulnerable and exploited by vested interests. The above examples clearly illustrate the enabling environment created by CARE-SNEHAL and its partner organizations for the deprived sections of the society by creating a change in the attitude of the educational departments attitude towards the children of the salt pan workers and fishing communities. Through these varying instances, the paramount importance of political structures is quite clear. Creating a transparent manner for marginalized communities to access and participate in these political structures was a major focus area for CAREs programming across the 5 states. Impact on the social structures CAREs impact on social structures needs to be understood through the changes that CAREs intervention has brought about in the various entities that make up social structures. This point can best be illustrated through the following example. In the village of Dhamsarai in Vizag district of Andhra Pradesh where the CARE-Step programme is being implemented, CARE formed a Community Action Group according to programmatic needs. The CAG committee became an efficient advocacy group in the village. Around this time, a few families from a neighbouring region migrated to the village. Although the villagers were not from the same tribe and belonged to Scheduled Caste families, the CAG committee in the village facilitated the inclusion of the migrant families into village society. The migrant families were also provided land within the village by the CAG committee where they could build their homes. This serves as a unique example of a CARE intervention bringing about a change in the social structures that govern the society. CAREs contribution can be said to be that CARE had organized the people into the committee, which then unleashed their potential and instilled a sense of responsibility and ownership among the villagers to address the issues concerning their village. Along the lines of CAGs, a similar example can be cited from the Bommika village of Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh where the CAG has become an efficient advocacy group and also a platform where the issues of the village can be discussed. Although the representation of women in the committee is low, the team were told that the women of the village are consulted whenever a decision is to be taken. As a case study in the earlier chapter about the CAG points out, village 44 CARE India Unravelling the Weave development work undertaken by the CAG has been able to provide employment to the landless not only of the village but also to the neighbouring villages. An interesting fact which emerged, was that many of the Scheduled Caste families in the village were landless and the activities taken up by CAG and supported by CARE had helped them get employment. An example in this regard could be that of "social stratification," which refers to the idea that society is separated into different strata, according to social distinctions such as race, class and gender. 45 CARE India Unravelling the Weave AN EXCLUSIVE SPACE FOR THE EXCLUDED On the eastern outskirts of Rajamundary town, a branch road from the national highway leads into the slums of Dawaleswaram. Mini, one of the more active Social Change Agents in the CARE led SAKSHAM program, manages a small brothel house. She is one of three persons in her family who work in the sex trade. She began working on highway,s leaving her sons with her mother and her daughter in a hostel. Highway work can be physically demanding and is fraught with more risks than many other form of sex work. When her health began to fail, she began practising sex work from home. She still remembers how suspicious she was of the CARE staff. But eventually, she gave in to their persistence and accepted an invitation to visit the clinic and collect some free condoms. She found the clinic very friendly and began to visit it more often. What I enjoyed the most, were the open discussions with other friends who also came to the centre, she says. Among the sex workers the most vocal is Padmini, who services clients in several lodging houses that dot the town of Rajamundary. Padmini was born to a poor family of mat weavers. As a teenager she married a Kapu, the local term for a village landlord. She had two daughters and a son by him, before he took on another woman. After an altercation, she left home and was befriended by an older woman at the bus stand. The old woman promised her a job, and they went off together to Ongole. We reached only late at night, and I was given a place to stay. It was only in the morning that I recognized it for what it was; there were so many girls, she recalls. Padmini is vociferous and enthusiastic about the impact that SAKSHAM has had on her life. Padmini and Mini are both regular visitors to the Drop In Centre (DIC) where they dance to music or enjoy a game of cards. These are the sex workers own space and have a central role in nurturing a sense of community. Our biggest problems are police raids and rowdy client behaviour, says Padmini and adds, In the past everyone one would run away during a police raid. If a client misbehaved and physically abused a colleague, others would look away. Now if they hear a colleague call for help, the others rally around immediately. The members of the Community Based Organisation (CBO) that the sex workers of Dawaleswaram have formed, now helps arrested women and have arranged advocacy sessions with the police. They have organized a sports program for the neighbourhood children which has helped to build bridges with the rest of the community, and reduce stigma. The two women proudly recall, The CBO designed and produced a New Year greeting card that said `I am a sex worker and I work for the prevention of AIDS. This went out to many prominent residents of Rajamundary. And sent out a strong message of a group of women rediscovering themselves. 46 CARE India Unravelling the Weave An interesting example from Upanpal village of Bastar district of Chattisgarh demonstrates how in even complex village social structures, intervention by CARE and its PNGO have brought about a change. In the village of Upanpal, historically the Maharas who are classified under Other Backward Castes, have been marginalized, but increased availability of alternate livelihood options, influence of the church, and the conducive policies of governments have resulted in a raise in their economic and social status. However, irrespective of this fact, they are relatively weaker than the Bhathras belonging to the Scheduled Tribe category. Both the Church and Hindutva forces are active in the village. Maharas are closely associated with the Church, whilst the Bhathras and other communities have links with Hindutva forces. Both the sections are further associated with different political ideologies/ parties. Thus, religious and political factors along with other socio-cultural elements make the scenario more complex. Despite the complex situation in the village, there are All Citizens Collectives (CBOs) formed in the villages which have open membership for all castes/ communities. SHGs for men and women have members from both major communities. These efforts on the part of CARE and its PNGO prove to be the first step in the process of bringing together different social groups, thereby making the social structure more synergetic and harmonious. In a path breaking effort by CARE, CHAYAN in Chattisgarh was able to create acceptance of sex workers as peer educators in its programme. This effort gains importance in the context that sex work has always been looked down upon by the society, which resulted in denial of even basic human rights. The programme has also been able to instil confidence and awareness about various health issues with sex workers. The team found that while earlier sex workers did not bargain for safe sex, now with greater awareness they bargain for safe sex regardless of the amount of money they receive from the customer. Customers who are unwilling to practise safe sex are not entertained. Sex workers who functioned as peer educators were also motivated to fight the local elections. Although they lost, the experience of going to the Collectorate, filling out nomination forms, and standing up for their rights issue has increased their confidence level considerably. Two similar examples can be quoted regarding the change in mens attitude towards reproductive child health needs, one from the village of Khairabad in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan and another from Medak district of Andhra Pradesh. Though the examples come from different programmes, they have been clubbed here for they have been able to bring about a change in the entrenched attitude of men towards women. In Khairabad village of Bhilwara where RACHNA is being implemented, it has been found that men have started perceiving that if women take loans for household level enterprises, ultimately it will be beneficial for the entire family. They have also realized that SHGs have helped women in raising their social and economic profile. This has increased their level of participation in household level decision-making. 47 Chapter Summary CAREs impact on social and political structures has been varied across the five states visited. The creation of a greater degree of openness, participation, efficiency, transparency, and accountability has been differential, based on the various programmes. STEP has been successful in modifying attitudes of political entities and making them more accepting of community interventions while Stree Vichare has gone a step further in improving transparency and accountability in service delivery. In the area of health, CARE as been able to impact social and political structures positively across various states (to different degrees), by increasing participation and ownership of and by communities and community affiliated institutions. Social structures in some states have been modified to be more inclusive of marginalised communities due to efforts of CARE and their PNGOs. CARE India Unravelling the Weave Chapter 6 48 Impact on Individual and Collective Assets and Capabilities The opportunity structure and agency framework of empowerment advances the notion of the poor peoples agency. The poor have limited freedom articulating and pursuing their interests, which in turn is due to limited assets and capabilities. Agency is defined by the capacity of actors to take purposeful action and is a function of both individual and collective assets. Due to existing inequalities within the agency of the poor, the poor need a range of capabilities and assets for negotiating, and influencing other developmental actors with the purpose of increasing their well being and for widening the basket of choices. These capabilities and assets lie with the individuals as well as with collectives. Individual assets are material in nature such as physical and financial assets. Individual capabilities include a variety such as human, social, psychological and political. Human capabilities include good health, education, productive and life enhancing skills. Social capabilities include social belonging, leadership, relations of trust, values, sense of identity and capacity to organize. Psychological capabilities include self-esteem, self-confidence, and ability to aspire to a better future. Political capabilities include the capacity to represent oneself or others, access information, form associations, and participate in political life of the community. Collective assets and capabilities include the capability of the poor to mobilize or organize into collectives, access social capital, participate in norms and networks that enable collective action, and the ability to take advantage of political alliances with powerful actors. For CARE, empowerment at an individual level has meant an increase in income, skills and self esteem of individuals, pride in identity as dalits, sex workers, women, enhanced quality of gender relations, increased ownership over and accountability of programme processes, increase in bargaining power in family and community, increase in livelihood security, enhanced health, increased understanding of rights and entitlements and institutions as tribals, women, sex workers, truckers, children, dalits, decrease in the level of distress migration (STEP and CASHE) and increase in entrepreneurial initiatives. This study has contributed additions to this list of indicators and outcomes. At the level of development of collective assets and capabilities, empowerment means an increased number of community based organizations, increased and efficient management of community based resources, effective functioning of village level committees, womens SHGs which have functioned for a period of more than 6 months without CAREs support, increase in community-initiated livelihood initiatives, increase in women SHG federations, representation of women in Community Action Groups formed under CAREs STEP programme, an increasing number of animators trained under the Animator Training programme for CBMS (STEP specific), and use of social maps as a part of CBMS (RACHNA and STEP specific). This chapter examines the processes of empowerment of individuals and community groups, and the building of community as well as individual capabilities as a direct or indirect outcome of CARE programme strategies and how programme strategies have achieved deliverables utilizing a rightsbased approach. The desirable ends of such rights-based approaches are sustainability in programme interventions both at community level and at the systems level, an enabling environment for community development, greater representation of marginalized groups and fostering well-informed individuals and communities. CARE India Unravelling the Weave 49 Building Capacities of the Excluded The Sustainable Tribal Empowerment Project (STEP) of CARE, implemented in the tribal areas of north coastal Andhra Pradesh is an example of a programme that is being implemented with a focus on empowerment of tribal communities. Its approach is also unique in that it aims at building the capacities of these communities through promotion and strengthening of CBOs that would make the communities aware of their rights and entitlements and demand for them. As mentioned earlier, it employs a process of social mobilization called Action Oriented Learning wherein communities are helped to prioritize their needs through community planning, and CBOs are strengthened to articulate their demands through interface with mainstream agencies. The project attempts to identify community vulnerabilities and address them through all its interventions and thereby enable it to build individual as well as collective capacities for action. This is done through mandatory representation of the vulnerable families in Community Based Organizations and specific targeting in terms of direct interventions such as grain banks, water harvesting structures as well as the revolving fund for micro enterprise promotion. The Grain Bank intervention of the project has shown tremendous impact in reducing vulnerability of families in terms of food security in lean periods. The 3000 Grain Banks promoted by STEP have resulted in providing food security for a period of at least 20-30 days to the vulnerable families and has also prevented migration, money lending and bondage. The water harvesting structure is also an example of how landless families can be included in the development process through provision of additional income through allied activities such as fishing etc. An example of this inclusive process is Champaguda, wherein excess water from the drinking water structure has been used for vegetable cultivation. The land is also lent to landless farmers for the second crop (this has been an outcome of community cohesiveness and maturity displayed in terms of caring for the most vulnerable among the community). A scenario analysis in the village brought out the fact that after implementation of the CARE project, the vulnerability of the community has reduced. Moving towards RBA by Building Individual Assets and Capabilities The RBA is a more holistic approach and explains the three fold objectives of women assuming leadership and decision making roles, increased representation of the marginalized in local self governance and the community based monitoring and sustainability initiatives of CARE. It also examines the various dimensions of individual and community capabilities. As Amartya Sen has pointed in his work on individual freedoms and capabilities, different individuals have different freedoms to choose and achieve different outcomes. They have the freedom to enjoy rights and entitlements of food, health, livelihood opportunities and political participation. The development of communities is an outcome of these freedoms from restrictions in choices. Individuals develop capabilities in steps or in layers such as through gaining information, education, and through influence of the social, economic and political environment. Therefore, the individual is capable of achieving control over ones life with a combination of these abovementioned capabilities. The agency aspect of individuals has the ability to choose the kind of life one wishes to or does not wish to live. In the individual capabilities approach, people are seen as individuals and not just as part of a greater group. They achieve different functions in their lives through interplay of various opportunities and capabilities and then attain a particular level of well being. CARE India Unravelling the Weave The following are instances of how the agencies of individuals have chosen to increase their well being through various social and economic and political influences. These instances have been culled from observations made for the various programmatic interventions of CARE. Change agents CARE programme strategies recognize the value of an individuals contribution towards achieving programme goals and working on broader themes of social change, inclusion as well as creating an atmosphere of demand for accountability. Programmes such as INHP II and areas of convergence between INHP II and CASHE use the concept of change agents and peer educators as empowering processes. The change agents roles and responsibilities include conducting home visits in specific hamlets and preparation of pada maps i.e. maps of the village hamlets. They maintain regular contacts with the AWW and assist her in her routine works - home visits, weighing of children and pregnant mothers, immunization tracking and also during NHD. Promoting healthseeking behaviour is on their agenda. There are however examples of these individuals going the extra mile to improve conditions in their villages and work areas. For instance, in Molbana II, Bankura, West Bengal, one change agent has led the way in engaging with the traditional institution of Sholo-Ana, a traditional institution of governance composed of the elders in the community. She attempted to sensitize the committee towards the problems faced in running the community based rehabilitation centre for disabled children. The centre functions in the evening at the Anganwadi centre and has no electricity. The Sholo-Ana committee agreed to pay the electricity bills and to buy electric wire etc. through community contribution. Despite the fact that women do not find representation in the committee and that the committee is not actually involved in the development activities of the village, the fact that a change agent has been able to engage them in a dialogue on the developmental needs of the village is a positive development. In Molbona I, Bankura district, West Bengal, the change agent works in convergence with INHP-II and CASHE and is also an SHG member. She is a well-informed and articulate lady and active in social work within the village. She finds wide acceptance even in the hamlets of the most socially backward community of the village. She is involved in the surveys undertaken by the Government on health status, and in preparing lists of eligible people for the NREG. The village community, both men and women felt that the change agent could be effectively utilized to raise issues of health, education, sanitation, income generation schemes, irrigation and other developmental issues at the gram Panchayat level. Peer Educators A majority of the boys and girls in the intervention areas of sexual and reproductive health programmes of CARE help supplement their families income by working in factories nearby. They begin working even as they enter their teen years and drop out of school to work. In any case, education is not seen as an avenue to employment opportunities. A few girls accompany their mothers at work, since the mothers are anxious for their safety to leave them unattended at home. The factories where these young children work pay them Rs 30-40 daily. Awareness on sexuality and related diseases is very low. Many adolescents have been categorized into the high risk behaviour group and there is existence of sexually transmitted infections. Under CARE intervention, a group of peer educators has emerged from among the youth and supported different government campaigns such as Jago Grahak Abhiyan (Customer Awareness Campaign). There is an increase in self esteem - pride in the identity of peer educator, adolescent girls and boys express their views and thoughts among themselves, their families, and the community. The young adolescent peer educators have undergone training on various aspects of social issues of concern such as HIV/AIDS, RTI/STI that are especially relevant to their local 50 CARE India Unravelling the Weave contexts. Peer educators provide referral cards to infected persons and also request the concerned healer to provide low cost treatment to those who lack knowledge on health and reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases, which is a common problem in their society. Peer educators among sex workers spread information about healthy and safe sex practices to keep themselves safe from HIV/AIDS and RTI/STI. They also function as depot holders so as to give condoms to their peers. Also through facilitation by CARE and PNGOs, they have developed strong negotiation skills. They refuse to service clients without condoms even if it means a loss in earnings as they are more aware and sensitized regarding their health. Some of them have also given up sex work and have taken up other professions such as selling goods home to home or manual labour. Young adolescent peer educators exist among sex workers too. Peer educators have realized the ownership of govt. programmes such as malaria eradication, and reduction of sickle cell anaemia, a common genetic problem in Chattisgarh, jaundice, polio, filaria, leprosy campaigns and provided support to the govt. health worker. They help identify left-out households to cover almost all the houses in Chattisgarh. These youth have helped create a ripple effect of the programme to the leftouts of the locality. Peer educators at Raipur urban sites helped mobilize the community to go for health check-ups at Family Health Awareness Camps held by the Government at various times in the year. These camps earlier had very low levels of participation by the community. Peer educators helped to increase awareness about personal health and about using the benefits of facilities provided by the Government. The programme on Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights in Raipur identifies socially active sex workers who work as peer educators and educate their community members about reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases through awareness programmes, dissemination of health knowledge, which they learn through various rounds of trainings on health held by CAREs PNGOs. They also helped in increasing referrals to qualified health practitioners for complete as well as partner treatment of RTI/STI. These sex worker/peer educators were also made aware about their sexual rights and safe sexual practices. This awareness helped them develop strong negotiation skills, which helped them gradually but surely decide not to engage with clients who are unwilling to use condoms. They are also now informed about different government benefits such as Suraksha Yojna, Janshree Bima etc. Motivated by their recognition as people of worth, they stood for local government body elections. The very experience of going to the Collectorate, filling in nomination forms, canvassing and getting recognition among their own community members, empowered them to live a life of self respect and enhanced their confidence levels to a great extent. Saathins CARE programmes are designed to develop the capacities of individuals. This is done by appointing them as community leaders or programme staff and training them in skills and information. However, the study team finds that this happens not only in a planned and systematic manner but also as an unintended consequence of mutual engagement. The following examples are illustrative of this. The Sathin of Khairabad, Ms. Santosh Chauhan is a very sincere and socially active worker. Sathins are community level workers with the role of social change agents. Santosh has shown initiative on many issues regarding atrocities against women with the support of Anganwadi functionaries and 51 CARE India Unravelling the Weave SHG members. She is strongly against child marriage and has been instrumental in preventing quite a few child marriages. Santosh is young and married with two daughters. She is present in the Anganwadi for support in supervising immunization programmes regularly. She pays attention to other details of the daily functioning of the Anganwadi. She also helps the AWW in cleaning and taking care of children. Even in the days before she became a Gram Sathin, she had helped the Anganwadi centre with her services. This brought her work to the notice of a few socially active individuals who suggested that she apply for a vacant Gram Sathin post. After getting the job, Santosh enrolled herself in Bhilwada College. At present, she is doing her B.A. 1st year privately. SAKSHAM : Learning while Demonstrating In keeping with its first objective, SAKSHAM undertakes and implements a Community- Led Structural Intervention (CLSI) in eight Mandals of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. As per the Sentinel Surveillance for 2004-05, East Godavari indicated HIV prevalence of 2.38% among the general population meaning that about eleven lakh people in this were infected with HIV. The programme addresses the intrinsic link that exists between STI and HIV. At the demonstration site, the Drop-In Centre (DIC) is an entry point for women to start accessing STI related services. There are various tools which thwe community uses to facilitate self-organisation. From visioning and power analysis exercises, to facilitating leadership and advocacy skills, SAKSHAM is a peer led approach to empowerment. Social change agents are community members who drive this process in the field. To build capacities SAKSHAM has organised various exposure visits to evolved CLSI sites. The management of the STI clinic and the DIC is in the hands of the community. The DIC Committee, apart from the upkeep of the centre, strategises on key issues related to handling police atrocities, violence and stigma. The community has formed a communitybased organisation (CBO), Nari Saksham, locally , and is also part of the district level network, Godavari Mahila Samakhya. Arogya Brundham, the STI Management Committee, looks into matters relating to minimising STIs and makes decisions regarding locales for mobile clinics, outreach strategies for increasing access, etc. The site has evolved over a period of two years and demonstrates many lessons in CLSI. Encapsulating these the immersion learning programme has been launched. The programme is structured along identified immersion circuits in the area. The striking initiative at the demonstration site has been the development as well as rollout of a comprehensive community-based monitoring system (CBMS). The exercise has actually gone beyond its scope to inculcate better communication skills, better rapport between community members, enhanced literacy levels, and deeper understanding of the community. Investing in young leaders Mohan Bhatra is the sarpanch of Upanpal village. He is young, and has studied up to the 8th std. It was his ardent desire that he become the village sarpanch so that he could help the village develop. He decided that he would not follow the usual occupation of his caste, that of construction work but that he would get involved in sustainable development of the village. He worked with a local NGO 52 CARE India Unravelling the Weave called PARDS, which was a CARE partner and for that he received a monthly remuneration of Rs.500. This association widened his perspective on development of rural areas. Mohan drew inspiration from the work of CARE on Panchayat voters pre election awareness programme. He was encouraged by CARE staff to contest elections, which having done, he won. Quite a few of the Panchayat members were his former colleagues from PARDS. They have together done a very commendable job in involving the community in planning developmental works for the village and constituted peoples committees. An example of such community-centred initiatives is development of five-year plans for women. In Karisunda GP (Indas block), Bankura district, West Bengal where PRI partnership in INHP II was scaled up, all elected representatives of the Panchayat were women. This was also an opportunity to see how women in power advocated for health and nutrition related issues. The examples above illustrate that through the intervention of CARE and its PNGO, the community members capacities were improved, who then went ahead to change the system and make it more efficient. 53 Moving towards RBA by building collective assets and capabilities Empowerment can also be viewed from an institutional perspective. However, given socio political and cultural aspects, the degree of collective action varies. Often, for marginalized groups, collective capabilities or collective action are the means to achieve well being and development. Collectives or institutions of the poor and marginalized provide them an identity and a voice, they are the means to dialogue and discussions with political authorities for greater good, and they represent shared values. Institutions also enable the poor to capitalize on opportunities in the environment. This section has looked at instances where CARE interventions have initiated, and encouraged collective action across different programmes. Creating an accountable system CARE programme strategies provide for formation of community based organizations and institutions to enhance the benefits of village level micro planning as well as to improve the accountability of service providers. Village level institutions include self-help groups, village development committees and dairy cooperative societies. Women and men of different communities are members of such CBOs. Processes such as village level micro planning and micro project formulation have strengthened the formation of CBOs in a big way. In intervention areas, post community based micro-planning, village development committees are formed to help continue the work. The VDC has representation from the gram Panchayat, village Anganwadi, SHG, primary school teacher, village dairy cooperative society as well as from among the village elders. The VDC members are nominated in village community meetings or the Gram Sabha. A majority of the VDC members in the intervention village in Surendra Nagar district belong to marginalized communities such as Koli and others. The village development committee members have already begun work on demanding accountability from service providers and ensuring provision of basic facilities in the villages. In Miyana for instance, the VDC has applied to the district health department for provision of a sub centre. Miyana has the provision of a health sub centre, which however exists only on paper and not in reality. This lack of health services is one of the major problems faced by the villagers. The VDC takes an active interest in supporting the Gram Panchayat to solve issues of basic entitlements and village development. The VDC members have made efforts to increase enrolments in the local CARE India Unravelling the Weave ICDS centre through household visits to parents of small children. They involve the village dai or traditional birth attendant and the ICDS worker in such enrolment drives. Bal Adhikar Samitis In the villages of the saltpan workers of the Little Rann of Kutch, an organization called Gantar has formed Bal Adhikar Samitis to monitor work on child rights. The samiti concept came into operation during the days when the organization began to work on addressing child rights in these areas. These efforts are also supported by SNEHAL. The Bal Adhikar Samiti helps monitor the use of school funds of seasonal hostels set up for children of salt pan workers and other such migrant communities. The main purpose of the samiti is to encourage enrolment in schools and spread awareness on the importance of education. The samiti members constitute the school head, Panchayat pradhan, ICDS worker, the village nurse or ANM, and community elders. Youth Resource Centre The YRC is used as a space to discuss issues of social and health concerns, especially sexuality, sexually transmitted infections and gender sensitization. It is also a space to create a bond of trust and mutual respect amongst adolescents. The YRC also imparts training to adolescents on required life skills. Several girls have attained basic literacy skills through the activities of the youth resource centre. Adolescent boys and girls of Chattisgarh Nagar, Raipur are responsible for the better management of the YRC (Youth Resource Centre) with support from the newly formed core committee comprising local leaders as well as other influential people of the locality. The core committee comprises of member from various departments such as the Health Department, ICDS, Nagar Nigam, elected local representatives, civil society representatives and the Panchayat. These members of the committee in union took up health issues such as treatment and awareness about RTI/STI, HIV/AIDS, sickle cell, anaemia, early marriage, etc. Creating identities for the marginalized This examines institutions serving as a deliberate means of creating identity for the marginalized and undertaking dialogue with political stakeholders. The Velugu Association under the STEP programme in Andhra Pradesh, which works on tribal rights, has organized a village sangham at the habitation level. From each sangham, two people are nominated as representatives for the Panchayat level federation to deal with the issues of tribal rights. They have formed a committee called Tribal Rights Assertion Sangham. This has been in response to their struggle towards getting their villages in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution that will provide them benefits from all the provisions made for tribal populations by the Government. The Velugu Association has encouraged them to start a signature campaign for the inclusion of Pulliputi Panchayat in the Vth Schedule Area. Velugu is also involved in advocacy at the national level on tribal issues. By selecting Velugu Association as a partner for the STEP project, CARE has built the capacities of the former and has improved its relation with the Government and made government officials listen to the peoples demands with regard to providing employment after the 2005 drought in Srikakulam district (worst drought in the last 15 years in the area). In the Pulliputi Panchayat of Seethampeta Mandal of Srikakakulam district, the Sangham has been able to arrange land pattas for 60 acres and has been successful in making district officials distribute 100 ration cards in place of 10. In the selection of beneficiaries, priority was given to vulnerable families. 54 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Gram Unnayan Samiti, in Bankura district of West Bengal, is another example of a space that nurtures identities of the marginalised. In Galivarigudam, a woman member of MACS, who protested against preparation of arrack in the agricultural fields and threatened to inform the police, was beaten up mercilessly. This issue was brought up in the SHG meeting by the group leader and further raised in MACS meeting. At the MACS meeting, it was decided that at the mandal level (Maripeda) a big rally would be taken out by Sri Pragathi MACS. It made the headlines news in the local media and word spread around. This indicates the awareness levels of women now in raising issues in the public space to protest against injustice. The tribal women find that their confidence, awareness and ability to provide solutions to everyday practical problems have increased substantially with their having become members of the self help groups promoted by STEP. SHGs in Dhamsarai ranked first as they have helped the members gain confidence and abilities. Sex workers and migrant women labourers are target groups of a programme on sexual and reproductive health care being implemented by CARE through its PNGOs in urban areas in Chattisgarh. Although the process suffered many hitches, these Womens groups have now been organized into self help groups. After becoming members of these SHGs, the women have expressed their willingness to shift to other forms of income generation activities, have taken out insurance policies and Jan Shri policies. There is also increased confidence in dealing with customers due to their membership in the SHGs. Collectives of the marginalized enable mutual assistance in redistributing resources in favour of the poor and the marginalized and promote development. CARE programmes take into account people on the margins who do not benefit from the general stream of development by providing them a platform to articulate their concerns, act on them and seek changes in their conditions. These efforts are deliberately designed to enable the above. Building collective assets The tribal community of Champaguda has suffered from water scarcity since long. Women had to fetch water from the nearest spring that was several kms away down a hilly slope. In 1993, the community started applying for a water resource management (WRM) system to be implemented through the Project director of ITDA at every Janmabhoomi (public hearing). The community coordinator Mr Rammurthy pointed out to the study team that prior to 1993, the community had little notion about public hearings. After five years of continuous struggle, in 1998, the officials of ITDA took the initiative in digging a well in the village. Prior to this, they asked the community about the site where they could dig the well. Eventually it was set up but the problem of water availability continued, since the well used to dry up in the summer and provided muddy water during the rest of the year. In 2001, CARE began its STEP programme through its PNGO, NATURE, in Champaguda. According to the needs assessment done through Micro Level planning (MLP), the micro project of setting up gravitational water resource management was considered a milestone of development for this deprived community by the village itself. For setting up the micro project in Champaguda, the total expenditure was approximately two lakhs of which the community contributed about Rs 53,000 through Shramdaan (voluntary labour). The engineers and the community in consultation selected the site for the water tank. The entire village is now supplied with water through pipes. The communitys initiative is noteworthy in this case as one of the villagers donated his land for the 55 CARE India Unravelling the Weave reservoir. He also got his son to sign on the donation paper to avoid any conflict which might occur after he passed on. This micro project has changed the entire dynamics of the village as indicated in the social map. Earlier, the community used to quarrel amongst themselves near the well whilst now they have eight taps in the village with each lane having one. For maintenance of each tap, they have made one CAG member responsible. There are a total of seven people (one of the members is responsible for two taps that are close to each other) in the maintenance committee. The committee is also responsible for any repair work. Each family contributes Rs.2 every month for purposes of maintenance. Figure 11: Social Map Champaguda (The water taps in the village have been installed after the implementation of the micro-project) A cobweb analysis was undertaken to understand the sustainability aspect of Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies (MACS) structure and its activities and to assess the confidence level of the Board Members in their capacity to perform duties. The need for regularity in trainings on various aspects such as roles and responsibilities of board members, leadership, how to run a MACS meeting and womens rights was felt by all. 56 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Figure 12: Cobweb analysis of capacity building training by MACS board members of Sri Pragathi MACS Collective voices of protest As mentioned in earlier sections, in Bommika village in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, awareness trainings, the constant support of Velugu Association, CAREs PNGO, and a local STEP animator were critical factors in making Biddika Ratnalamma and a group of agitated women take up a campaign against corruption and lodge a complaint against the village secretary to the Project Officer, ITDA, Seethampeta. Institutions such as Panchayats and education committees have assumed an ever-increasing importance in the lives of the tribal communities in STEP intervention areas. The villagers use their support to enforce norms and rules. The villagers of Dhamsarai, Chilikalagedda Panchayat, Anantagiri Mandal, have approached the Panchayat as well as the CAG to complain against nontribal land grabbers. They have also found a way to discourage parents who do not send their children to school through the enforcement of fines and penalties by the village education committee. The Gram Panchayat of Upanpal, Bastar, Chattisgarh has passed a resolution in the Gram Sabha that men and women would get equal wages for works commissioned by the Panchayat and others 57 CARE India Unravelling the Weave in the village. This has been seen as a step towards promoting greater accountability of the Panchayat, reducing discrimination against women and increased income for the women, increasing gender sensitivity of the Gram Panchayat as well as individuals. PARDS, the local NGO partner in the area has been instrumental in advocating with the gram Panchayat on various issues of local concern. Velugu Association has also been able to energize SHGs to take up the issue of alcoholism, which was affecting women. The SHG women collected all the cans of local alcohol, invited the sarpanch and set the cans on fire near a village banyan tree. A similar example is from Bastar district of Chattisgarh where CAREs RACHNA programme is being implemented. Here too, women have begun agitating against alcohol production. In village Dhoudiyabad in the district of East Midnapore, West Bengal, CASHE, SHGs have come up as pressure groups in streamlining better provision of services especially from the ICDS and sub centres. For example, SHG members pressurized the AWW to provide good quality food to children targeted in the ICDS. Co-operatives Women in CARE intervention areas of Gujarat have organized themselves to earn an income from the village dairy, but several changes have been noticed in the process. For instance, the milk tester is a young girl from a socially excluded community. She carries out her job with sincerity and determination. This step is significant in a caste-ridden village community. One of the dairy members is now on the board of the district milk union, having received a lot of support and encouragement from the CARE PNGO. Bandar Panchayats - Collectives of fishermen in Kutch SNEHAL, a programme on rights and entitlements of marginalized communities in Gujarat, includes the Muslim fishing communities in Kutch. They face displacement and livelihood losses due to displacement. The GoI has announced the creation of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Mundhra, Kutch and adjoining coastal areas that are also home to these fishing communities. As a result, the communities residing on the land included in the SEZ have faced displacement once and are in danger of being displaced once more. Ecological damage due to destruction of mangroves has affected livelihoods. As the fishermen have been displaced from their land, they do not have access to basic amenities. The PNGOs have facilitated the formation of several Bandar Panchayats. Later, the Bandar Panchayats were federated into an apex body called Machhimar Setu Swashasan Mandal. This federated body has written to the district, state and national level authorities to remedy their plight. They are still awaiting a decision or affirmative action on this. The federation also sought information from the State Government about the details of acquired lands under the SEZ. They have also expressed concern about the cutting down of mangroves from the coastal areas. Building financial assets Availability of financial opportunities instils confidence in women. It encourages them to voice their opinion on various aspects of development in their village. Financial empowerment has been linked to empowerment in a bigger sense of the word. It means that women participate in decision-making structures. It talks of systemic changes. Financial empowerment may act as the lever to push greater things. What is required is the push ahead and this assumes significance if we see it in the context of 58 CARE India Unravelling the Weave disempowerment and oppressive societal attitudes towards women. CARE through its programmes have attempted to build financial assets of its community members, especially women. The CASHE programme visualizes group building processes that help in community development and finally to a more equitable society. The convergence between CASHE and INHP has utilized the synergies of health and livelihood interventions to build a base of knowledge and local level leadership. CAREs intervention of programme convergence is designed to push for the political representation of the change agents, and SHG members. Case Study 05: Changing lives Gousia Begums husband migrated to Annaram Sharif in the hope of a better life and set up a photo studio. The income was meagre and the family found it difficult to manage. It was then that Gousia Begum heard about the Self Help Groups, which were being formed by the local NGO MARI. The talk about savings and keeping their own money in someone elses safe custody put some lingering doubts in the minds of Gousia Begum and her husband Ahmed Khan. Initially there were many doubts, remembers Gousia, but later, as awareness and understanding increased, the doubts started melting away, she says. Another problem was the acceptance by her husband. I had my doubts, regarding the meetings, he said frankly, I did not want men and women mixing freely, so I went to one of their meetings and saw only women there, so I was satisfied, Khan said. The fortunes of the family started changing soon after. The studio was wound up and in its place came up a shop catering to the devotees who came visiting the dargah close by. We have the offerings that the devotees require and we also have dolls, slippers and other such stuff for children, said a beaming Gosia Begum. The benefits from joining the SHG have gone far beyond just the shop. It has also helped Gosia Begums and Ahmed Khans three children get educated. Of their three children, the eldest is currently in the final year of Bachelors in Commerce in Warangal, while the girl and a boy are in the 10th standard. According to Gosia Begum it would have been impossible for them to educate their children without being a part of the SHG. Today, the couple has approximately Rs.50, 000 in loans from the SHG. In fact I have just taken a loan of Rs. 15,000 the day before yesterday, we are going to get some more samaaan for our shop, Gosia Begum says with a smile. Gosia Begum also talks about how attending the meetings of the SHG and MACS helped her in venturing beyond her home. I never used to go out of the home anywhere, but now with attending the meetings my awareness has grown and I am able to contribute much better in household decisions. Gosias husband Khan agrees. Her moving out of the house and attending meetings has really helped. On asking how it has helped, Khan replied with a smile. She comes back and tells me everything that they have discussed and we are able to decide in a better manner about the kind of expenditure we should be making. The heartening fact is that Gosia Begum is not a stand-alone case. There are many others like her who have prospered the same way in the village. The laudable initiative from CARE has been changing lives. According to Mr. Chinappa Reddy of the CASHE programme, Warangal district, CASHE has worked with an entire range of microfinance players grassroots institutions, capacity builders and technical service providers and product development agencies and financial institutions to make the service provision more efficient and more responsive to the poor. Community monitoring of basic services Village education committees (VECs) are formed within a Gram Panchayats jurisdiction and its role is to monitor education provision, and advise the Panchayat on educational programmes. SNEHAL has trained the VEC members on developing monitoring indicators for education in their area. It is seen as a first step of its kind, and is expected to build accountability of the educational system as well as the Panchayat on the issue of education. 59 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Under SNEHAL, Gantar, a PNGO and the community it works with i.e., the salt pan workers support the district health authorities in planning the visit schedule of the ambulance service. The community is expected to eventually monitor the ambulance services, which will no longer be the responsibility of the health department alone. 60 Chapter Summary The illustrations throughout this chapter indicate the positive changes that CAREs direct and partner NGO programmes have been able to bring about in the communities that they work with. The spectrum of transformation ranges from skill building to improved quality of life and services, increased knowledge and awareness on various social and political issues to building of assets for individuals and communities, and increased voice and participation of marginalised communities. The various aspects of peoples lives that have been influenced by CAREs work is underlined by its wide range and the fact that it is mainly rights driven. CARE India Unravelling the Weave Chapter 7 61 Advancement of Rights: Promising Practices - Strategies & Processes This chapter aims to highlight the key advances made by CARE in its various programmes across sites, along with their ingredients, drivers and processes. In addition to describing these, the chapter also attempts to understand the significance of these factors in bringing about a change in the condition, position and relations of the communities. Empowerment is at the core of CAREs activities, especially the strategic networking and alliance building, which has resulted in enhanced representation and active participation in local self governance and stronger community owned institutions. This emphasis on the use of village level governance processes has resulted in better understanding and has ultimately benefited the poor by increasing their participation and their control within key decision making institutions. CARE programme strategies on empowerment have also strengthened individual capabilities to work on broader themes of social change and inclusion. How these have been extrapolated by people in varying circumstances would merit a more detailed study, but it is clear that CARE has established an atmosphere where individuals demand accountability from the appropriate systems, and specifically from individual programme sectors. CAREs interventions have also created powerful leaders and role models within communities. These role models have served as inspirational forces, to compel other communitys members to seek their rights with the programmatic framework. In many cases, these positive models are key impetuses of change, who CARE is attempting to bring into the lives of the people through its programming. CARE has achieved significant success in positively affected lives of marginalized communities in the following ways: Promising Practice 1 Partnership with governments: and with civil society, especially at the grassroots level, to create accountability is a visible CARE strategy for furthering the rights of the poor. CARE has strategically positioned itself as an agency that is able to work within and challenge the dominant structures and institutions in society. In its holistic efforts to strengthen, support, extend and realign its services to the poor CARE has not hesitated from partnering with NGOs, which have a strong history of taking controversial anti-establishment positions. While this has been a fine balancing act of being pro poor and pro system, CARE in all its sites has persisted with this multi-pronged approach. In situations where the PNGO takes a confrontational approach with the government, CARE while providing moral support to the community, simultaneously advocates to the Government to accept the communitys demands. At a strategic decision, CARE has kept a certain distance from any form of protests that the PNGO might engage in. CAREs position allows NGOs and in turn the community to enjoy better leverage with the government. CARE India Unravelling the Weave One such protest in the Srikakulam district has been regarding the relocation of the PDS outlet. In such a scenario, the people from the PNGO, Velugu Association, told the team that although CARE did not participate in the protests, the discussions that CARE had with the officials of ITDA helped to force the relocation of the PDS outlet closer to the village. Another example cited is from SNEHALs programme partner - AHRM. CARE has been able to engage itself with the rights issues of saltpan community through the ARHM which given its internal constraints, would not have been possible on its own. This brings to light a critical indicator that in circumstances where CARE has found it difficult to get involved directly in confrontational activities; it has tried to bring about a change in an indirect fashion. Realignment of health and ICDS blocks is an area where CARE has brought a structural change while working with the government directly. Realignment has taken place in the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan and also in the Bastar district of Chattisgarh. The realignment of the ICDS and health blocks is one of the major achievements of CAREs RACHNA programme. This has led to better efficiency in service delivery and better access to ICDS services for community members. This is clearly a structural impact that serves the needs of the most marginalizes. The ICDS model of Gajwel is also an example of CARE collaborating with the government to create better service delivery mechanisms for the community. The government is now trying to replicate this model in other mandals of the state. In the Gajwel model of good governance, the issues effectively addressed are the following: . Accountability of the system and government staff. This includes the AWW. . Transparency in the processes and procedures being followed. . Information dissemination to the community about various aspects of the ICDS. Information dissemination feeds into ensuring that the above two aspects are fulfilled. . Institutionalization of Community Based Review System (CBRS) which is a review system, which involves the AWW, Mothers Committee members and change agents in reviewing the activities of the ICDS at the community level. 62 Promising Practice 2 Building community awareness CARE has utilized awareness generation as a critical component of rights based programming in many of its programmes. An example from Chattisgarhs Bastar district shows that the awareness generated by CARE and its PNGO in the village of Talur eventually led to the organization of a Gram Sabha focused on health issues. During the Gram Sabha, discussions were held regarding the apathetic attitude of the people towards health issues. As has been mentioned earlier, this is an example of capacity building of the community to take up issues at a higher level thereby creating a change in the institutional climate. Institutional change in the context of urban areas can be elaborated by the CHAYAN programme in Raipur, which has been able to increase the awareness levels of urban local bodies. This awareness has resulted in HIV/AIDS being included within the agenda of the programme. Moreover, because of CAREs intervention, the Government and the PNGOs have been able to increase their outreach to rickshaw-pullers, truck drivers, sex workers, adolescents and migrant labourers. The team came across an increase in efficiency of the AWW, and the health department staff due to adequate orientation provided by CARE and PNGO staff. CARE India Unravelling the Weave 63 Promising Practice 3 Building community based organisations CARE understands that one of the key ingredients for building effective social capital is to form and nurture organisations of the poor. There are several examples of this approach being adopted by CARE. For example, in the CARE STEP programme in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, a village level committee called the Community Action Group (CAG) created by CARE has been able to do village level micro planning through facilitation by the local NGO. In fact, the CAG committee had been able to carry out land development activities in their village even involving members of other communities in the process. When studying the INHP programme of CARE and its implementation in the Gajwel ICDS in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, it came across that women in the area had become much more vocal about their maternal needs. This empowered them to pressurize their husbands and motherin- laws to take them to the Primary Health Centres (PHC) for IFA tablets and the vaccination of their children. In effect, the attitudes and behaviours of the men in the family concerning the reproductive needs of their wives completely transformed. The Mothers Committee supported by CARE in the village was able to put pressure on the AWW and also the higher ups for effective service delivery. Mothers Committees Several Government Orders have been issued between 1994 and 2001 regarding the formation and strengthening of Mothers Committees for all Anganwadi centres in Andhra Pradesh. The rationale behind the Mothers Committees is that as beneficiaries of the ICDS themselves will act as a pressure group and monitor the service provision of Anganwadis. The Anganwadi worker (AWW) is expected to update the list of beneficiaries as per the norms of the ICDS in her jurisdiction. This has to be read out for validation in the meeting convened by the supervisor. She has also meet with representatives from local NGOs, SHGs/DWCRA/IGA groups, elected women representative and, sarpanch/Upsarpanch. She has to form a General Body with all women in the age group of 15-45 years, mothers of all children and adolescent girls, in addition to pregnant and lactating mothers availing the AWCs services. A Mothers Committee has to have 8 members- two mothers of children below the age of 3 years, two mothers of children between 3-6 years, two mothers of adolescent girls (11-17 years), as well as two representatives in the age group of 15-45, preferably pregnant and lactating mothers. Representation must be from all habitations. The tenure is for 2 years. Roles and responsibilities of the Mothers Committee include monitoring supplementary nutrition, immunization, assist in health checkups, ensure school enrolment and attendance, nutrition and health education, participating in government programmes and act as change agents for behaviour change to bring about better nutrition and health practices, and other activities. The Government Order, much in line with CAREs strategy of strengthening ownership of processes and ensuring absorption of services by eligible beneficiaries, provides for a conducive environment for strengthening community monitoring systems of the ICDS services. At the field level however, the primary challenge lies in proper follow up guidelines in the formation of the Mothers Committee. In several districts of A.P, an assertive Mothers Committee is yet to be formed. In Annaram Sharrief, Parvatgiri Mandal, (Warangal), for example, the Mothers Committee is selected by the AWW and most of the members belong CARE India Unravelling the Weave to her caste. This creates an atmosphere where instead of working as an advocacy group they work more as a helper to the AWW. A similar example can be cited from the village of Annaram Sharif where women have started moving out of the confining walls of their homes and attending meetings at their SHG federations. This change has come about after the women became a part of the village womens SHG. CAREs STEP programme in the northern districts of Andhra Pradesh has created a Community Action Group in the Villages of its intervention. The CAG committees have been instrumental in creating an atmosphere in which people from all castes could participate. Now tribals in the village sit together with the people from Scheduled Castes and higher castes and as a collective, they plan the future of their village. The CAG committee through the training provided by CARE has been able to create village level micro-level plans which has ensured the participation of all the community members. This has also helped in making the local level state institutions more accountable and transparent. Sex workers and migrant women labourers are target groups of a programme on sexual and reproductive health care that is being implemented in urban areas of Chattisgarh. These womens groups have been organized into Self Help Groups. Members of SHGs were motivated to take out insurance policies. The sex workers have been empowered and derived confidence from their SHG membership, which has resulted in a reduction of exploitation from their customers as well as the harassment from the local police. Women in CARE intervention areas of Gujarat have organized themselves to earn an income from the village dairy, which has resulted in a number of significant positive changes. In the midst of a caste-ridden village, the milk tester is a young girl from a socially excluded community who carries out her work with great pride and sincerity. One of the dairy members is now on the board of the district milk union, having received a lot of support and encouragement from the CARE PNGO. SNEHAL, a programme on rights and entitlements of marginalized communities in Gujarat includes the Muslim fishing communities in Kutch. They face displacement and potential loss of livelihood security. The GoI has announced the creation a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Mundhra, Kutch and adjoining coastal areas that are also home to these fishing communities. As a result, the communities residing on the land included in the SEZ have faced displacement once and are in danger of being displaced once more. Ecological damage due to destruction of mangroves has affected livelihoods. As the fishermen have been displaced from their land, they do not have access to basic amenities. CAREs PNGOs have facilitated the formation of several Bandar Panchayats. Later, the Bandar Panchayats were federated into an apex body called Machhimar Setu Swashasan Mandal. This federated body has written to the district, state and national level authorities to remedy their plight. They are still awaiting a decision or affirmative action on this. The federation has also sought information from the State Government about the details of acquired lands under the SEZ. They have also expressed concern about the cutting down of mangroves from those coastal areas. 64 Promising Practice 4 Promoting innovative, context specific ideas, responses and solutions One of the strengths of the CARE programme is that it has been able to promote innovative and context specific ideas, responses and solutions. In urban site of Raipur, where RACHNAs CARE India Unravelling the Weave CHAYAN component is being implemented, a Jigyasa Club has been established to respond to the hesitations among teachers to discuss openly HIV/AIDS and other sexual health issues with students in a classroom setting. Therefore, it was determined to initiate these interventions in an informal setting within school. After several discussions with teachers, NGO staff, and students at various platforms, the idea to start a Jigyasa club was established. After being trained, school peer educators, with the help of their trained core teachers established Jigyasa and are successfully running the programme within six schools of Raipur city. Promising Approaches on Advancing Concepts of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Chattisgarh : Jigyasa box- A box is placed at the YRC and those are curios about SRH issues have an outlet to ask questions. These questions are answered openly by in-house experts. Gali Band Abhiyan- Chart paper is pasted in the YRC with a statement Main Gali Nahi Deta/Deti Hoon (I do not use abusive language). Those who are confident that they are no longer using any abusive language writes his/her name on the paper. Kishor Kona (Adolescent Corner) is a wall paper started in each target school by the school core club. Students are supposed to stick news clippings, cartoons, poems, photographs that are of interest. The objective of this activity is to create awareness among students on youth related issues. A majority of the boys and girls in the intervention areas of sexual and reproductive health programmes of CARE help supplement their families income by working in factories nearby. At an early age, these young teens drop out of school in order to work, in daily wages jobs that pay as little as Rs.30-40 per day. Often education is not seen as an avenue to employment opportunities. A few girls accompany their mothers to work, since the mothers are afraid for their safety to leave them unattended at home. Awareness on sexuality and related diseases is very low. Many adolescents have been categorized into the high risk behaviour group because of their low awareness of sexually related diseases along with of the presence of sexually transmitted infections. Now, under CARE intervention, a group of peer educators has emerged from among the youth and supported different government campaigns such as Jago Grahak Abhiyan (Customer Awareness Campaign). There is an increase in self esteem - pride in the identity of peer educator, adolescent girls and boys express their views and thoughts among themselves, their families, and the community. 65 Promising Practice 5 Nurturing local leadership Mohan Bhatra is the sarpanch of Upanpal village. He is young, and has studied up to the 8th std. It was his ardent desire that he become the village sarpanch so that he could help the village develop. He decided that he would not follow the usual occupation of his caste, that of construction work, and instead involve himself in sustainable development of the village. He worked with a local NGO called PARDS, which was a CARE partner and for that he received a monthly remuneration of Rs.500. This association widened his perspective on development of rural areas. Mohan drew inspiration from the work of CARE on Panchayat voters pre election awareness programme. He was encouraged by the CARE staff to contest elections and he won seat. Quite a few of the Panchayat members were his former colleagues from PARDS. They have together done a commendable job in involving the community in planning processes for the village. CARE India Unravelling the Weave They have constituted peoples committees, and such community centred initiatives have resulted in the development of five-year plans for women. Promising Practice 6 Making use of progressive govt. initiatives In West Bengals district of Bankura, site of CASHE and INHP II convergence, the recently formed Gram Unnayan Samiti (GUS) by a government order makes the representation of at least 3 SHG women mandatory in the samiti. With several of these women in the samiti now, they are more aware of Government sponsored opportunities as a result of these GUS meetings. These women leaders work to fully utilize these schemes to strategize and assist the economically weak and socially marginalized women of their group. Recommending names of women to the Panchayat as prospective beneficiaries of the 100 days job guarantee of the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme is one such effort. Promising Practice 7 Encouraging community led planning AOL processes institutionalized by CARE STEP (such as micro level planning through CAG with facilitation from Velugu Association) has helped communities to create their own development agenda. Broadly, the steps involve: 1. Needs identification and prioritization by the community which they can address as primary actors based on experience, skills and resources. 2. Implementation by the community after resource mobilization (labour, material and cash) 3. Monitoring (progress is monitored by communities against their goals and objectives, problems identified and solved) 4. Review and learning (outcome of the initiative against their goals and the process by which these were planned, achieved and problems overcome) 5. Community progresses to the next initiative Since 2003, 5 MLPs have taken place and 2 Action Plans have been made based on the MLP and it has become mandatory that such processes take place once in 6 months. One copy of the action plan goes to the Panchayat President. During the MLP, the Panchayats have to add a covering letter to CAGs proposal and when the proposal is accepted by agencies such as CARE, the Panchayat is informed. In case of land development, funds were given to Velugu Association and the demand for release for funds came from CAG to Velugu. Besides financial support, CARE has helped in establishing linkages with ITDA for irrigation facilities. Not only has the AOL process provided benefits to the village community but it has also provided employment to the people from the adjoining villages. Throughout this process, the statement was made to pay men and women equal wages. 66 Chapter Summary During the course of the study, through interaction with the community, village and district level counterparts, the team observed that CAREs interventions have tried to address the root causes of marginalization, while also seeking to understand the denial of rights and entitlements through clearly defined measures. Most of CAREs projects were only CARE India Unravelling the Weave able to look at the denial of rights in a limited context, as determined by sectoral and population group choices or compulsions. When CARE was able to explore the denial of rights in a more comprehensive, multi-sectoral manner, the organizations efforts achieved greater success. 67 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Chapter 8 Next Steps Considering the diversity of CARE Indias programming, along with the elusive nature of empowerment, the Rights Based Approach is a powerful mechanism to ensure that CAREs initiatives are addressing the underlying causes of poverty. This shift in focus reflects CAREs efforts to understand the comprehensive dynamics of poverty and marginalisation, and the organisations efforts to make sustainable impacts on key relationships. Transforming the nature of these power dynamics is a critical step in enabling marginalised communities to be empowered and live lives of dignity. Although it is simple for organisations to achieve quantifiable deliverables by undertaking visible, and high profile development activities, CARE has made the conscious shift to focus upon the intangible and far more challenging, underlying causes of poverty. In the previous chapters, one has seen the varied and concerted efforts that CARE has put to reorient its programmes into a rights based one and make the institutions, social and political structures more transparent, accountable, participatory, equitable and gender responsive. We have also seen how it has sought to build individual and community capabilities and assets to engage with the institutions and structures on a level playing field. As Rights Based Programming becomes more widespread, the promising practices from CAREs field experience have the potential to provide learning for not only itself, but the rest of the development community as well. Sustainability of the good practices set in motion by CARE would require organisational will and concerted effort at building the capacities of its team to internalise the implications of the radical shift from welfare to rights based programming. CARE has succeeded in maintaining a critical eye throughout this difficult process, and placed itself in a continuous learning position. Yet, the process of reflection is not the only step to CARE becoming a learning organisation. In actuality, institutional mechanisms need to be in place to ensure that these learning are systematically incorporated into CAREs work. Ultimately, this may require a drastic transformation of the manner in which CARE conducts business, in order to address its identified shortcomings in achieving sustainable Rights Based Programming. This may call for Units such as MOLD to have significant share in the programmatic and decision-making structures of the organisation. This will ensure that the reflections and learning processes are holistically integrated into all aspects of the organisation. Most importantly it establishes a structural framework for these learning to be effectively acted upon. At times, this type of paradigm shift can be uncomfortable and challenging, but CARE is clearly dedicated to transcending the mere discourse and taking tangible action in its work. The writeshop attended by field staff, MOLD team and the researchers provided an opportunity to critically reflect on a range of issues that would help CARE internalise the learning. 1. Continue to invest in key promising practices and deepen the experience. Making the impact from these practices sustainable would require critical investments and engagements at the levels of agency, structure and relations. 2. Incorporate institution-wide accountability mechanisms to ensure that individuals and units are responsible for adhering to these changed priorities. 3. Continue to invest substantially in building capacities of community groups to be true agents of social and political change and not mere consumers and promoters of various products and projects. 68 CARE India Unravelling the Weave 4. Strengthen and widen the partnership base and build alliances with progressive rights based national agencies. 5. Continue to invest in convergence of programmes and institutions within the realm of both non-governmental and governmental agencies to ensure their accountability to community realities. 6. Invest in CAREs staff at all levels to build capacities, perspective, knowledge and skills regarding rights-based work. 7. Articulating and rolling out clear guidelines for programming ( from project proposal development to implementation, monitoring & evaluation) with respect to Programme Focus Areas. 8. CARE needs to articulate clear stands on structural issues such land rights, tribal/ dalit rights, rights of sex workers, etc., and roll out strategies to address such fundamental issues. True partnership with marginalised communities will only be possible when organisations support their fundamental struggles. No organisation can experience growth without these difficult internal reflections. The shift to Rights Based Programming is a shift that organisations around the world are grappling with in order to more comprehensively fight the underlying causes of poverty, and work towards realising the ambitious Millennium Development Goals. Rights Based Programming has emerged as a nonnegotiable principle in programming, and CARE has been at the forefront of these global efforts to initiate a paradigm shift in the entire development sector. Despite its pioneering role, CARE India is still undertaking the process of learning further from its experiences, which will only strengthen the organisations ongoing commitment to positively empower and impact the lives of marginalised communities. 69 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Annexures Annexure 1: CARE Programming Principles In order to fulfil CAREs vision and mission, all of CAREs programming should conform to the following Program Principles. These Principles are characteristics that should inform and guide, at a fundamental level, the way we think and work. They are not optional. 1. Promote Empowerment We stand in solidarity with poor and marginalised people, and support their efforts to take control of their own lives and fulfil their rights, responsibilities and aspirations. We ensure that key participants representing effective people are involved in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of our programmes. 2. Work In Partnership With Others We work with others to maximize the impact of our programmes, building alliances and partnerships with those who offer complementary approaches are able to adopt effective programming approaches on a large scale, and /or who have responsibility to fulfil rights and alleviate poverty through policy change and enforcement. 3. Ensure Accountability And Promote Responsibility We seek ways to be held accountable to poor marginalised people whose rights are denied. We identify those with an obligation towards poor and marginalised people and support and encourage their efforts to fulfil their responsibilities. 4. Address Discrimination In our programs in offices we oppose discrimination and the denial of rights based on sex, race, nationality, ethnicity, class, religion, age, physical ability, caste, opinion or sexual orientation. 5. Promote the non-violent Resolution of Conflicts We promote just and non-violent means for preventing and resolving conflicts noting that such conflicts contribute to poverty and denial of rights. 6. Seek Sustainable Results By acting to identify and address underlying causes of poverty and rights denial we develop and use approaches that ensure our programs that result in lasting and fundamental improvements in the lives of the poor and the marginalised with whom we work. 70 CARE India Unravelling the Weave 71 Annexure 2: CAREs Programme Focus IMPLEMENTING A PROGRAMME FOCUS ACROSS CARE INDIA Each of us is key to the organizations change efforts CARE INDIAS VISION AND MISSION We seek a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE International will be a global force and a partner of choice within a world-wide movement dedicated to ending poverty. We will be known everywhere for our unshakeable commitment to the dignity of people. CARE Indias mission is to facilitate lasting change in the well being and social position of vulnerable groups, especially women and girls. We draw on our experience and collaborative relationships to address the underlying causes of poverty and social injustice through: Confronting unequal power relations and discrimination Increasing representation and participation in local governance Influencing critical policies, programmes and services Guided by our core values - Respect, Integrity, Commitment and Excellence - we work to ensure that our internal behaviours and relationships fully support our external programmeming and promote organizational learning. Four strategic directions guide programmematic thrust. These are: Address underlying causes of poverty and social injustice Establish CARE India as partner of choice in the movement to end poverty (through alliances, coalitions, partnerships) Value and promote a positive work environment and responsive systems to improve programme impact Build capacity of country office for improved focus and responsiveness to its environment PROGRAMME FOCUS CARE values the contributions its current programme portfolio makes to promoting lasting positive changes. In our work with communities, CARE India focuses on addressing the underlying causes of poverty and social injustice. Three cross cutting themes define how we programme: Addressing unequal power relations, particularly gender relations. Strengthening representation and participation in local governance and community institutions. Building strategic alliances and networks. CARE India will continue to programme in its current geographic areas to influence the wellbeing and social position of women and girls in scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, and below the poverty line. There is significant evidence that working with women and girls will benefit CARE India Unravelling the Weave the larger community and CARE will often need to work with other groups to benefit this selected target group. Strong analysis is the cornerstone of quality programmeming at CARE, and we draw on rightsbased approaches to household livelihood security to systematically assess vulnerability within our primary target population. To support our efforts in addressing gender and discrimination and local governance, our technical focus areas are: Confronting various forms of discrimination and vulnerability faced by women and girls from SC/ST that result in lower health and nutrition status. Specific interventions foster community empowerment and awareness of rights, strategic partnerships and alliances with the Government and NGOs, behaviour change communication, appropriate health and nutrition technologies, scale-up and replication of best practices, and knowledge-sharing and advocacy. Emphasizing gender equity in access to micro-credit interventions, looking much more at issues such as property rights, which is an important element of improving the economic status of the poor. Key interventions entail working with strategic alliances and networks at different levels to improve community incomes (self-help groups, financial institutions and government regulators). Mitigating discrimination issues uniquely faced by girls in relation to the basic education system in order to increase their social status to participate in decisions that affect their lives. On the demand side, CARE mobilizes communities to strengthen their perception of ownership, and works to influence local government to respond to this demand generation. On the supply side, we aim to replicate best practices and scale-up through integration with other technical programme areas. Building capacity of communities to cope with risks associated with natural and manmade disasters by working with local partners (both government and NGOs) in disaster planning and preparedness, and the integration of disaster preparedness initiatives within other on-going interventions. 72 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Annexure 3: Examples of CARE efforts through its staff, partners and communities Empowering processes focusing on good governance The Tribal Rights Assertion A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes process partners A tribal rights assertion sangham Srikakulam -Pulliputi (collective) is being developed to seek Panchayat of Seethampeta the rights of the community Mandal; Velugu 1) Velugu Association, which works on Making district officials Association tribal rights, has organized a Village accountable in providing Sangham at the habitation level. From land pattas and distribution each habitation, two people are of ration cards to be nominated as representatives for the informed by peoples need. Panchayat level federation to deal with tribal rights issues. They have formed a Based on this, the committee called Tribal Rights government functionaries Assertion Sangham. a) The Sangham are now in the process of has been able to arrange land pattas for preparing a list of families 60 acres and has been successful in that have migrated and are making district officials distribute 100 conducting a survey for the ration cards in place of 10. In the Panchayat to provide work selection of beneficiaries, priority was to the affected families. given to vulnerable families. Sangham provides a good The Velugu Association has encouraged example of self initiative of the community to start a signature an informed tribal campaign for the inclusion of Pulliputi community with regard to Panchayat in the Vth Schedule Area. fighting battles for access Velugu is also involved in advocacy at and control of resources, the national level on tribal issues. By access to basic services and selecting Velugu Association as a government schemes, and partner for the STEP project, CARE their struggles for has built the capacities of the former sensitizing different strata and has improved its relation with the of governance systems and Government (promoting cooperation making them accountable. and fruitful engagement replacing conflictual relation between an activist organization and the Government) and made government officials listen to the peoples demands with regard to providing employment after the 2005 drought in Srikakulam district (worst drought in the last 15 years in the area). Robust participatory processes -actionoriented learning process and microlevel planning as means to take charge of development processes: AOL processes institutionalized by CARE STEP (such as micro level planning through CAG with facilitation CARE India Srikakulam; Bommika; STEP (Land Devt. Micro project); Velugu Association & Department of Agriculture 73 Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes process partners from Velugu Association) has helped a) It has increased the communities in addressing their participation at the village development agenda. level; SHG women being a) Need identification and prioritizing of members of CAG ensure the needs by the community, which they that their concerns are can address as primary actors based on addressed. Similarly, the experience, skills and resources issues of land development (for patta holders) & of providing land to the landless (daily wage labourers), both have been addressed. MLP reduces information gap, people get to know the grievance b) Implementation by the community approach mechanisms. after resource mobilization (labour, material and cash) b) CAG has been able to seek benefits from the ITDA with regard to their in sensitizing Panchayats STEP Velugu Association c) Monitoring (progress is monitored by micro project that emerged communities against their goals and from the MLP process. objectives, problems identified and solved c) The AOL process, in d) Review and learning (outcome of the particular, implementation initiative against their goals and the & monitoring of the micro process by which these were planned, project has inculcated achieved and problems overcome values of transparency e) Community progresses to the next within CAGs own style of initiative functioning (e.g. documents Since 2003, 5 MLPs have taken place prepared are open to public and 2 Action Plans have been made scrutiny). To keep the based on the MLP and it has become Panchayat President in the mandatory that such processes take loop and involve PRIs in place once in 6 months. One copy of the process. the action plan goes to the Panchayat President. During the MLP, the In MLP processes, Panchayats have to add a covering letter discussions on government to CAGs proposal and when the schemes, Vridha pension is proposal is accepted by agencies such as given to the beneficiaries CARE, the Panchayat is informed. and beneficiaries for ration In case of land development, funds cards, Antyodaya cards etc. were given to Velugu Association and are identified and proposed the demand for release for funds came to the Panchayat from CAG to Velugu. Besides financial support, CARE has helped in establishing linkages with ITDA for irrigation facilities. Strengthening formal local self These efforts have resulted Srikakulam Bommika governance systems 74 CARE India Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes process partners CARE identified gaps in strengthening towards the needs and the Panchayat system and ran several processes of peoples action modules for the office bearers of plans. This has also Panchayats, on issues ranging from established the concept and functions, legal provisions, the need for process of creating conducting gram sabhas, making accountability of public information available, and on talking institutions to the people. about the PRI agenda. It has also established interface between Panchayats and CAG (the CAGs action plan needs to be ratified in the Panchayat, to keep the sarpanch in the loop to generate greater acceptance on the part of the Panchayats about peoples Action Plan, so that when schemes are announced, the needs identified under the Action Plan are taken into consideration, and also to ensure correct selection of beneficiaries Capacity creation of community action CAG is able to articulate Srikakulam Bommika groups on planned role in the project community needs, assert STEP Velugu Association. activities itself with the ITDA in CAG has received 3 days training at the several ways - action plan, cluster level by youth groups and budget, resource animators in MLP and based on mobilization, engaging peoples prioritized needs, prepared departments for seeking action plans (proposal) and steered the assistance in micro projects micro project on land development (e.g. for accessing seeds at from inception to implementation, subsidized rates; for engaging several departments of the feasibility certificates in land ITDA. development projects). This indicates that they now have the capacity to address and access the systems provisions. In Peddaguda, CAGs efforts have resulted in change of depot and brought electricity to the village Representation of SHG Bankura; Jagdalla CASHE; Promotion of project partner women in GUS forum in Bikash community members into formal bodies the long run, will help in for governance to ensure inclusion of making Panchayats their voices and agenda into governance accountable processes: Through a Government 75 CARE India Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes process partners Order, it has become necessary to have a Gram Unnayan Samiti at village level for greater participation of local community. Several women from SHGs promoted under CASHE project have become its members and attend its meetings where issues related to infrastructure development (so far) have been discussed. Since Bankura is a drought prone area, a 100 days work guarantee has been recently announced by the government which aims at curbing migration. The SHG women are keen to use this opportunity to help socially and economically marginalized women from their group. They intend to prepare a list of prospective beneficiaries and recommend it to the Panchayat. Direct partnerships are being created by CARE with peoples institutions and techno-managerial capacities are being provided to these: CARE Bankura has implemented INHP-II interventions in Bankura I, Patrasayar and Indas blocks through Panchayat bodies. The pilot work was initiated in 2 GPs (Narayanpur and Jamkuri) of Patrasayar block after the Executive Officer of Panchayat Samiti suggested taking up 2 remote GPs situated in difficult geographic areas. A 4-month contract was thus signed with Patrasayar Panchayat Samiti and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the State Programme representative, CARE and the Executive Officer, Patrasayar Panchayat Samiti. The proposal was designed and implemented as soon as the MOU was signed. The pilot was aimed at understanding whether the PRIs favoured this partnership; whether they could manage CAREs resources judiciously, whether they could implement any project mode operation; and lastly, to gauge how the political system accepted CARE in their CARE India 76 Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes process partners development plans. In Karisunda GP (Indas block) where PRI partnership in INHP-II was scaled up, all elected representatives of the Panchayat were women. It was an opportunity to see how women in power advocated for health and nutrition related issues. Convergence of elected members and Increasing service East Midna service providers to review the providers accountability Pore; Sandalpur Cashe, programme Better service provision West Bengal KJKS Joint orientation/meetings of the ICDS Better sharing and (Kajala Jan Kalyan Samiti) workers, PRI members, Anganwadi coordination workers, and community level volunteers, ANM Focus not just on the project objectives, Increased awareness on Gujarat, Rajashthan, but also on leveraging government rights and entitlements Chattisgarh. schemes: NGO oriented SHGs on provision of different government schemes, their benefits and their procedures, publication and dissemination of IEC materials Representation of SHG members in the Increases the say of the East Midna Gram Unnayan Samiti project partners and Pore Sandalpur West The KGKS insisted that the members communities in the larger Bengal, KJKS of SHGs formed under their development agenda (Kajala Jan Kalyan Samiti). programme are also represented in the GUS. Earlier, only members of the SGSY SHGs were in the GUS. Increasing accountability of institutions Constant quality control by East Midna by SHGs the community of the Pore Sandalpur West SHGs have come up as pressure groups programme and Bengal, KJKS in streamlining the better provision of community led advocacy (Kajala Jan Kalyan Samiti). services especially from ICDS and sub based on their own centres. For example, SHG members assessments. pressurized the AWW to provide good quality food to the targeted children. For example, 14 SHGs in Sandalpur have facilitated strong pressure groups within the community. Aligning community based organizations existing in the community to project needs and using their clout in the community: There are a large number of CBOs in the communities including youth clubs, puja samitis, sports clubs etc. 77 CARE India Unravelling the Weave transparency in the A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes process partners Creating role models and greater There is realization among Jagdalpur/ Bastar Upanpal community participation the community members RACHNA PARDS Encouraging community members that involvement in political transitioning from informal active processes is critical for volunteers to formal leaders in village ensuring good governance level local self-governance and treating the programme efforts with the purview of local self governance: CAREs PNGO has encouraged village level leadership. Mohan, the gram pradhan of the village was associated with PARDs. PARDS provided him with a small fellowship for working on community level issues. There are a large number of NGO leaders have fostered clubs and youth groups in the village. local leadership which once The NGO has also given them training energized has ensured the and information in the form of involvement of existing literature. Mohan facilitated, and village level institutions coordinated efforts of the CBOs. Later, such as CBOs. In he got elected as village sarpanch by development processes defeating the sarpanch who happened overall there is increased to the wife of the local MLA. functioning of the service Panchayat accounts are shared in open providers and PRI gram sabha meetings. Mohan, the members and they are more sarpanch has a 5 years plan for holistic accountable than before. development of the village. The Panchayat under the leadership of Mohan has passed resolutions related to health and nutrition, education, alcoholism etc. They also passed a resolution in the gram sabha regarding equal wages for men and women on works commissioned by the Panchayat and others in the village. This applies for agricultural labour as well Besides the five regular committees of Panchayat, the sarpanch has formed some additional committees as well. E.g. women and child development committee. Panchayat has revised the existing list of BPL families, and added 29 new families in it. A special gram sabha on health and nutrition issues was called for by the Panchayat. As an outcome of this, the gram sabha and the Panchayat began to 78 CARE India Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes process partners take an active interest in the monitoring of events and activities related to health. It was then that the ANMs work was also monitored regularly. The ANM of the area was not functioning efficiently. She was called in an open meeting and was asked for an explanation. Similarly, the AWW of the village was found not giving proper attention to her work. As she was undergoing some family problem, she was given 6 months time to improve. Since then she has improved. Panchayat representatives, CBO members help in organization of NHD. They come to the Anganwadi on the NHD and help the service provider in counselling. Addressing exclusion The issue of exclusion has Bastar/Jagdalpur/RACH Leveraging local self-governance been addressed. NA Talur Vikas Mitra. processes for programme aims to An initiative of the service ensure community is included: There provider were two hamlets in the catchment area of Anganwadi centre, Talur. Due to the location of Manjhiguda and Bandhiguda hamlets, the communities could not access and avail of Anganwadi services. Therefore, the AWW along with the NGO-Vikas Mitra raised this concern in the gram sabha. A resolution was passed for setting up a new Anganwadi centre in the vicinity of the two deprived hamlets. The demand was approved by the ICDS Ensuring right to information about Increase in transparency in Bhilwara, RACHNA, services and entitlements: provisioning of public Khairabad Wall writing outside homes, in public services places on the services available at the Anganwadi centre. This wall writing includes the list of services available at the AWC, quantity of food to be provided to beneficiaries, list of leaves and centre timings. The Anganwadi worker shares the information in meetings of SHGs Developing perspective and information The functioning of Bhilwara, RACHNA, about best practices and using formal RACHNA has improved Khairabad. systems to diffuse these: due to better coordination CARE organized a cross visit for the with the government. This 79 CARE India Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes process partners district CEO and district Panchayat has also led to diffusion of Chairperson to areas outside Rajasthan. best practices from one part The purpose was to observe, and learn of the system to another. and have an orientation on the models of best governance practices in the RACHNA context. Later, these district level officials passed government orders on the topics relevant to RACHNA. For example, the district CEO and the CARE representative released a joint order through the sub division level that officers are expected to visit at least five Anganwadi centres per month. To ensure the ownership of PRI representatives in NHD and other community level processes and events, training of women PRI representatives. CARE supported Self help groups Groups formed for Bhilwara, RACHNA, formed for purposes of health and purposes of health and Khairabad. nutrition have replicated their abilities nutrition have been able to and skills for leveraging other basic successfully work on issues services: The Self help group members of general services too. have shown a deep interest in the They have been able to provision of basic services within their demonstrate their village. For example: They have written inculcated skills and to higher level government authorities confidence. and met the PRI members for provision of piped water to houses, construction of RCC roads. They also pushed the demand for a washroom for use by women. The room is now constructed. Efforts have been made to sensitize the Better provision of services Bhilwara, Urban government health system: CARE and in terms of more friendly CHAYAN, Kawakheda, their partners disseminated information treatment; this has CUTS. on services available at voluntary encouraged affected counselling and testing centres, STI persons and their relatives clinics. Orientation of service providers to approach the service on youth friendly health services. The providers more frequently service providers are drawn from not than in the past. only the private sector but also from the government run public health programmes. Strategic rapport building with PRIs and Greater involvement of Bhilwara, Urban the government has led to previously local level institutions as CHAYAN, Kawakheda, obscure issues of youth reproductive well as government CUTS. and sexual health have being institutions in peoples mainstreamed: Due to ongoing rapport issues building with the local elected 80 CARE India Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes process partners representatives and government officials, the programme receives a lot of support and cooperation from them. For instance, provision of space and sponsorship for programmatic events, space for youth. Federating representative organizations The federation also sought Bhuj, SNEHAL of the poor has led to rights and its information from the state programme violations being represented with government about the credibility. The GoI has announced the details of lands acquired creation of a special economic zone under the SEZ. (SEZ) in Mundhra and adjoining coastal They have also expressed areas. As a result, the communities concern about the cutting residing on the land included in the SEZ down of mangroves from have faced displacement once and are in those coastal areas. danger of being displaced once more. Workshops have been Ecological damage due to destruction of organized with government mangroves has affected livelihoods. As officials, political leaders, the fishermen have been displaced from media persons, and other their land, they do not have access to stakeholders on the issue of basic amenities. The PNGOs has fishing communitys rights facilitated the formation of several to livelihood and land. Bandar Panchayats. Later, the Bandar Panchayats have passed Panchayats were federated into an apex resolutions to allot the body called Machhimar Setu Swashasan common land of the Mandal. This federated body has written Panchayat to the fishermen to the district, state and national level who have been living on authorities to remedy their plight. these lands from many decades. The Panchayats are awaiting the final decision of allotment from the revenue department). Efforts have been made to position Increased awareness, Bhuj, SNEHAL communities problems to different recognition and action of programme. levels of elected and administrative elected and administrative divisions. At one level, these seek to officers towards the needs create awareness and at another seek and rights of the poor. redressal. Some prime examples of these are: The PNGO has facilitated interaction between the fishing community and the local PRI members, and local politicians. The PNGO that works with the fishing communities has been publishing a newspaper highlighting the issues of fishing communities rights 81 CARE India Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the Location, programme and processes Representation of Panchayats in village level institutions such as village development committees formed under the programme in Surendra Nagar. Using participatory processes to Peoples agenda was leverage support for the elected implemented through the representatives for local development: Inclusive planning for the During micro level planning, the poor was demonstrated. community identified the pakka road as an issue for the village. The ward member helped in pursuing this issue in the Panchayat. The Panchayat gave the space to the community to decide the material to be purchased. Payment was made by the Panchayat. By this process, they have been able to construct the kind of road they want. Community members were also involved in labour work related to the road. They have also accessed food under the food for work programme. Strengthening PRI members capacities To strengthen local self-governance, the programme conducted two types of training. Training for the elected sarpanch and ward members Village secretaries There are also exclusive training for elected women members CARE India partners process peoples institution. Vizag, Dhamsarai Village Kotturu Panchayat (Anantagiri Mandal), STEP 82 Unravelling the Weave Community Based Monitoring System an empowering process The broad description of The outcome of the Location, programme empowering processes process and partners Community Based Monitoring tools Ravelli were being used as part of the good Gajwel, Block, Medak governance model under Gajwel District, Andhra Pradesh ICDS. The process is taken up at community level by the change agents Increased INHP and the Anganwadi worker and at the block level by the CDPO office. the programme directly The main process used is the Community Based Review System, which uses tools such as social maps at the Anganwadi to monitor the services being provided to pregnant and lactating women in the village. There is a possibility for any villager to update the social map as and when a change takes place. Change agents in the village also have social maps of the areas under them. The change agents monitor the services being provided to the beneficiaries in the area. The Anganwadi supervisors are also provided a supervisory tool with which they can monitor the activities of the Anganwadi worker. Participation of SHG women in the Although too early to say Jagdala and Molbana GUS could also be looked at from the whether this initiative of 6 Villages perspective of institutional building of months has increased Bankura SHGs through which Gram Sansad participation in GS, there meetings (Gram Sabha) can be made are possibilities for CASHE more vibrant, participatory (greater empowerment in this presence and articulation by women) initiative that need to be Bikash and thus more meaningful. It can also observed. Both help inculcate certain practices and implementation sites, have beliefs (such as womens right to poor representation of participate in the Gram Samsad women in the GUS from meeting) which can strengthen local relatively backward governance. CARE India Increased transparency in the ICDS system at the community and block level. efficiency in service delivery due to increased accountability of village functionaries and government functionaries at the block level. Participation being addressed by ensuring that change agents are not only from every community but also from every locality of the village. hamlets (Malpara, Roypara, Koringapara- Jagdalla; Dompara & Loharpara-Molbana). The CASHE SHG group in CARE is implementing 83 Unravelling the Weave The broad description of The outcome of the Location, programme empowering processes Training, capacity building of Increased chances of Galivarigudam partners/communities sustainability of the MACS board members have received MACS and apex MACS Warangal training on their roles and federation structures. responsibilities; concept of unity and CASHE need for federation; on leadership; on Right to assembly and to how to run the MACS meeting; on discuss social issues information on banks and financial (political). institutions; on book-keeping and womens rights and ACTS. These have helped in capacity building, gaining confidence with regard to interaction with government officials (Mandal development officer and Mandal Revenue officer), and has paved the way for greater participation and sustainability of the federation by strengthening organizational processes and abilities. Women SHG members monitor Bastar children in the village who look after Upanpal their younger siblings when their parents go out to work. The milk cooperative does not allow its members to give all the household milk to the dairy; they have to keep some for the family especially where there are younger children, pregnant and lactating mothers and older members. A special gram sabha on health and nutrition issues was called for by the panchayat. As an outcome of this gram sabha, the panchayat began to take an active interest in the monitoring of events and activities related to health. It was then that the ANMs work was also monitored regularly. The ANM of the area was not functioning efficiently. She was called in an open meeting and was asked for an explanation. CARE India and partners process these areas in Jagdalla has been recently formed, which has had little time in making itself felt. 84 Unravelling the Weave The broad description of The outcome of the Location, programme empowering processes process and partners Similarly, the AWW of the village was found not giving proper attention to her work. As she was undergoing some family problem, she was given 6 months time to improve. Since then she has improved. Wall writings outside homes and in The whole process Khairabad public places regarding the services increased transparency in Bhilwara available at the Anganwadi centre service providing RACHNA increased awareness of people in mechanisms. It also made general and made the AWW the people aware about accountable. This wall writing services available and included the list of services available subsequently ask for it. at the AWC, the quantity of food to be provided to beneficiaries, list of leaves and centre timings. The Anganwadi worker shares the information in meetings of SHGs. In all RACHNA sites, CARE with the Ownership of the All RACHNA sites help of its partners identified change community over health agents to work on health issues. They and MCHN issues are locals. Their work involves The Mitanin are women monitoring MCHN events and and they have developed a activities and processes. Their target lot of self confidence in groups are pregnant women, lactating the course of doing their mothers and young children. They duties. The service make home visits, organize providers too receive community meetings on health related support. topics. They provide assistance to Anganwadi workers and ANMs in their duties. CARE has also provided them training Community level mapping has been The maps help tell us of done by change agents with the the service provision to support of the NGO functionaries different households. and the service providers. Surendra Nagar,Gujarat Little Rann of Kutch The community takes over the Monitoring of ambulance Gantar monitoring of the ambulance to the service at taluka level areas of little Rann of Kutch. CARE helped revive the governments SNEHAL ambulance service in the areas around the Little Rann of Kutch. This is a clear case of increase in governments accountability and further addresses 85 CARE India Unravelling the Weave staff and The broad description of The outcome of the Location, programme empowering processes process and partners the issue of exclusion of the salt-pan workers from the government health set-up. Developing capacities of the village It is to be seen how the Villages of intervention education committee (VEC) members VEC can contribute to Surendra Nagar, Gujarat on developing monitoring indicators developing indicators for SNEHAL monitoring the partners functioning of school education in the rural areas. In this process, the VEC is able to make the government system not only more accountable but also transparent. The micro planning process enables Micro planning initiatives Intensive focus areas of involvement of marginalized and with the community in the intervention excluded communities and especially intensive focus areas of Surendra Nagar, Gujarat of women and the lower castes in the SNEHAL SNEHAL and process of planning. The SNEHAL partners interventions are micro plan based. The micro plans are also presented to the government for policy level advocacy on community rights and entitlements. As such, the impact of micro-plan preparation goes far beyond just planning at the village level to making the government and the local self government system more accountable. 1. It helps in raising the Champaguda Village of (Dumbriguda Mandal) Micro Level Planning (MLP) MLP is a participatory process in voices of community Kollaoattu which the community is able to members in front of the Panchayat identify and priorities the basic needs. concerned authorities. This plan offers to address the basic 2. It also helps the Visakh needs related to livelihoods, forest community to identify and STEP Nature, rights, food security, health and prioritise their needs with CAG nutrition, water and sanitation. In case common consensus. of tribal communities, this was not a 3. The MLP document very easy task to implement. The plan with the needs and was being implemented with the help priorities identified by the of the local partner NGO Nature. community also help the To start the planning process, the implementing agencies to major concern is to ensure the chalk out their strategies participation of people. In the initial and implementation plan phase of the process, the community for development. was not very warm towards the 4. Priorities written on the PNGO Nature. But after some wall also reflect 86 CARE India Unravelling the Weave front of the panchayat, administration and outsiders. The broad description of The outcome of the Location, programme empowering processes process and partners interactive sessions with the transparency among the community, the local partner has won community. the confidence of the community. The community then started New emerging issue or identifying and prioritizing their instant needs are taken needs. The formation of CAG, which care of. has been facilitated by the PNGO, was an important step in building up Consolidation of rapport with the community for information related to the ensuring their participation in the village, which helped them process. On the whole, Nature played in representing the issues a role of facilitator. This process has of that particular village in four steps: 1. Identification 2. Action 3. Monitoring 4. Reviewing and Learning planning. This can help the community in reviewing This process is totally transparent. All the MLP because the priorities are supposed to be discussion or comments written on a prominent wall of the made on specific issue will village along with social map for. be taken care of during Pl. refer Photo- It also helps the This process is unique since through community to track the micro level planning, identification information related to and prioritization of community needs them. It means that when are done not once, but half-yearly. they need to plan further, There is review of MLPs after six the community can refer month. So after six month community to their notes. again sit together and review the MLPs and undertake needful action. All the information related to village such as social map, resource map, village history, needs and priorities, review of MLPs etc. are well documented in the MLP file. Social maps on village wall - transparency It is mandatory for every village to paint the social map of the village on the wall. In this, they include all information related to the village. It is also mandatory to write down the needs and the priorities of the community. CARE India 87 Unravelling the Weave everyone. The broad description of The outcome of the Location, programme empowering processes process and partners Community Action Group To provide information to The CAG is an apex body of CBOs. outsiders. In the CAG, members from the VSS, SEC, SHG, village elders, PRI and It is a good way to vulnerable families are included. CAG consolidate information keeps watch on all community based related to the village and activities. It also includes PRI make it available to members in the loop. processes at the panchayat An informal Parent Teacher Representation of all Association: CBOs minimized the An informal parent teacher conflict and the association exists in the village. This involvement of PRI association is responsible for school helped in various activities and is run by women. level. No school dropout. Regularities in school activities. One of the main objectives of the Tools helped pregnant Khammam INHP projects is: Communities and lactating women to Banigandlapadu sustain activities for improved monitor the services Block: Madira maternal and child health. (nutrition, ANC, PNC) INHP, CRESHE In this regard, for better monitoring taken by them during ICDS, AWC, of programme interventions, vulnerable times PHC community based self monitoring tools were designed by CARE and implemented by partner NGOs through the AWW at the AWCs. They have developed two tools: 1. For Pregnant Mothers 2. For Lactating Mothers. These tools are based on locally understandable depictions. Under these tools following are included 1. Breast Feeding 2. Weight 3. First bath of the child 4. IFA & TT 5. Vitamin A 6. Food for pregnant women & children These tools are being self-managed by the beneficiaries. My village my home monitoring Helped in monitoring Village Kostala tool, an innovation by CARE helped drop outs for DPT3 and Khammam the AWW track the immunization measles. According to the Block: Madira 88 CARE India Unravelling the Weave The broad description of The outcome of the Location, programme empowering processes process and partners programme in the village. In these CARE district officials, in tools they have included only DPT-3 Banigadlapadu this INHP and measles. The reason for including innovation was proved to CRESHE both is the increasing rate of drop out be highly effective as ICDS in case of these two vaccines. Since almost 100% complete AWC there is a nine months gap before immunization for children PHC these two vaccinations, parents usually could be achieved. tend to bring the child for these two immunisations. 89 CARE India Unravelling the Weave process participation in the process, to reduce any possible hostility/misunderstandin g and opposition from men Participation of women in gram sansad has increased significantly external world and skill level increased, greater confidence to participate in the Gram Sansad increased increased Womens Empowerment A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process Before forming womens groups, the To explain their intent for NGO carried out a process of forming women groups consultation with men (for social To ensure mens sanction) Women becoming SHG members Greater avenues for coming of their Mobility of women homes- e.g. the meetings of SHG related increased, confidence in activities at block level, exposure visits, interacting with the training Womens groups started taking initiatives against social problems like alcoholism, domestic violence SHGs are used as a forum to discuss the Enrollment of girls has importance of girls education Basic literacy skills were a condition for Literacy levels have SHG membership, and provided time to increased the women to acquire these skills. Women have greater access and control Their participation in over money and expenditure; women household level decision also contribute (through money of SHG making increased, the loans) to the household enterprise , sense of self esteem has which are managed by their husbands SHG membership is seen as a status symbol and contributing to greater well being Members of SHGs have formed a folk Increased mobility, troupe and perform songs and street confidence and skills plays within and outside the village Efforts to enhance capacities of women Skill and confidence levels members through training on accounts, rose book keeping, leadership, nutrition, CARE India Location, programme and partners Sandalpur East Midnapore West Bengal Cashe, KJKS (kajala Jan Kalyan Samiti) Upanpal (Bastar) for RACHNA Dhoudiabad, East Midnapore CASHE Note: This has been observed in other areas also such as KJKS. Talur, Bastar /Sandalpur/Bhilwara 90 Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process increased livestock management, herbal medicine, vermin compost The NGO owns a vehicle and uses it for Income, confidence and the sale of herbal medicines, processed greater sense of spices which are grown by the SHG responsibility, members. The business accounts are entrepreneurship skills maintained by the women themselves control over their bodies Four out of six change agents identified and trained by CARE under the RACHNA programme have been absorbed by the Chattisgarh Government run Indira Swasthya Mitanin scheme. Provision of vocational training on mushroom growing, livestock rearing, fisheries PARDS facilitated women led interventions related to girls education, early age marriage, alcoholism and domestic violence. They have provision for fines in case of people marrying off their daughters early. Correct and complete packages of It has promoted womens information about contraceptives and reproductive life. The gram panchayat of Upanpal has Step towards promoting passed a resolution in the gram sabha greater accountability of that men and women would get equal the panchayat, reducing wages on work commissioned by the discrimination against panchayat and others in the village women and increased income for women, increasing gender sensitivity of the gram panchayat as well as individuals accountability towards AWW being a role model in village Increased accountability Talur. Vikas Mitra recommended her for of service providers the award of the best Anganwadi worker through reward and for the year within the ICDS project. recognition. This raised her confidence and Creating a role model for motivation. She is more responsible village girls. about her duties. SHG women members take charge of Additional source of cooking mid day meals for primary income, increased school children community CARE India Location, programme and partners Jagdalpur/Bastar Upanpal RACHNA PARDS Two mitanins in Talur also In all RACHNA sites in Bastar and Bhilwara Talur Bastar RACHNA Vikas Mitra 91 Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process SHG members manage the village PDS Greater role in shop. community level decision making, additional source of income Formation of groups of adolescent girls The girls have an avenue known as choti behna samuh by the to share and know various Anganwadi worker. The girls are given health related aspects education on adolescent health. Out of 71 children enrolled in the AWC, 45 are girls. In the local middle school, 39 out of 75 children enrolled are girls Creating role models for women Reduction in domestic Sunita is the gram sahyogini of the AWC. violence, this also served Her husband used to physically abuse as an example or warning her. On seeing her plight, the Anganwadi for other such abusive centre and Mema the dai ma, decided to men help her. They warned the husband that if he did not mend his ways they would report him to the police and take legal action. After this, the husband has stopped harassing Sunita. Due to the efforts of the Anganwadi Increase in literacy levels, worker, SHG members have acquired confidence of women basic literacy skills. Shanta Sharma is an Anganwadi worker. She encourages vocal and active women to apply for posts such as of the Gram Saathin, Sahyogini and Sahayika. These women are role models for the women and girls of the village. The programme has tried to consciously involve such women in their activities who can serve as potential role models. Trilok Kanwar Ranawat is the wife of the local Zamidar and is also the block PRI member. She is invited to meetings and trainings as a resource person as she can inspire other women through her life experience. She is not restricted by the purdah any longer even though she belongs to a strictly conservative Rajput family. This step of hers has encouraged several women to step out of their homes and take up social work. The change agent and other programme functionaries have been perceived by the CARE India Location, programme and partners Talur Khairabad Bhilwara RACHNA Also in Bastar 92 Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process villagers as influential opinion leaders. A lady police officer was called to Several girls attending the facilitate a session on legal rights. session now wish to Rajkumari, a NGO worker is also become like the police perceived as a role model by the girls of officer her work area. She is financially independent, and her mobility is not as restricted as theirs. ISOFI has made efforts to break down Confidence has increased. the hesitation in social interactions They understand each between adolescents and young men and others problems and women. young men and adolescent boys are increasingly sensitive towards women and girls problems ISOFI has helped the youth participate Mobility and confidence in youth sammelans in Rajsamand, youth has increased; confidence sammelans organized by MAMTA in for social interactions has Jaipur, training on folk media in Bikaner, increased attended a meeting organized by CHETNA in Jaipur and a workshop at Delhi, attended picnics and gave performances in other towns and cities The youth met the collector to request A successful instance of for space to set up a youth resource collective action. centre. This space was granted. A folk media group has been formed; it Reaching out to a wider composes and performs street plays on audience on issues of social issues like early marriage and so on importance to adolescent and youth, in particular women. Community leaders have been identified Overall impact has been and groomed from within the adolescent that ISOFI group and youth set. members have gained recognition amongst their peers. The groups have taken up a different To increase gender Also in Raipur kind of initiative known as Gali-band sensitivity Urban Abhiyan or a campaign against use of abusive and gender insensitive language. Men and women from the Vagher fishing Use of advocacy on rights Bhuj community have produced, designed, of fishing community and developed audio materials, given voice over for audio materials on fishermen rights. Women took the lead in this entire process. YMC (Yusuf Mehrauli CARE India Location, programme and partners Bhilwara Urban URBAN CHAYAN Kawakheda CUTS Fishermen settlements in Juna Bandar, SNEHAL KMVS/Ujas, Setu Mahiti Kendra,, 93 Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process More than fifty percent of the NGO Help capture the staff comprise of women. Two out of perspective of women in three partners NGO are headed by the programmes women. Out of 391 students in NFE centres run by NGOs, 161 are girls. This is in spite of the fact that the girls belong to a conservative section. Out of 53 Bandar panchayat members, 25 are women. Bandar is a place where the fishing boats are docked. Formation and promotion of women dairy cooperatives Transparency in the day to day functioning, regular meetings, are proving to be first steps towards instilling a sense of transparency and accountability in the community. A woman belonging to the lowest caste in the village has been appointed the milk tester by the cooperative which has helped in bridging the social divide. The above example speaks about the participation of the marginalized sections of the village society also. As the dairy cooperatives are run by women themselves, making them financially secure is a first step towards womens overall empowerment. Availability of finances, membership of SHGS and women dairy cooperatives linked to availability of loans thus making it easier for cooperative members CARE India Location, programme and partners Trust) Surendra Nagar Teekar, Miyana, Halvad Taluka, Dist Surendra Nagar SNEHAL Deepak Charitable Trust 94 Unravelling the Weave Location, programme and partners A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process to derive the advantage of their dairy cooperative membership. Promoting representation of women in local village level institutions as well as higher level institutions Shardaben Kachrola is a Teekar member of the village Surendra Nagar women dairy cooperative. SNEHAL DCT encouraged her to Deepak Charitable Trust stand for elections to the (DCT) district milk union board and she won, becoming the first woman to be represented on the district board. It can be mentioned that womens dairy cooperatives are going a long way in ensuring womens participation in local level institutions and political empowerment. Education initiatives-Bhantar Shala The girls attending the Surendra Nagar for girls of Agariya community under the residential school are Taluka Patdi SNEHAL initiative called Jeevan Karmi taught lessons under the SNEHAL Shiksha formal education system Gantar and also vocational skills that will stand them in good stead in later life. The girls have missed out on schooling due to several reasons ad they study a bridge course. GUS was formed only in Bankura Representation of women in the GUS The recently formed GUS by a Dec 2005. By now, there Jagdala government order makes representation is greater awareness of CASHE of at least 3 SHG women mandatory in schemes. Bikash the samiti. With several of these women in the samiti now, they are more aware of opportunities (through the GUS meetings they attend) coming from the government in the form of schemes and intend to make use of their strategic location in helping the economically weak and socially marginalized women in their groups for strengthening livelihoods by recommending the name of such women to the panchayat as prospective beneficiaries in the 100 days CARE India 95 Unravelling the Weave Location, programme and partners A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process work scheme. In Bankura, 55 SHGs are involved in the GUS and have received 2 days training at their respective Gram Panchayat offices to strengthen the community health care and management initiative process. This involvement will increase participation in village development forums, will help them participate in micro level planning and facilitate in improving health situation. Various capacity building sessions have Contributes towards Bankura, Jagdalla been conducted at the greater transparency & and Molbana SHG/cluster/community based good relations with a INHP II and CASHE organization level on issues relating to critical service provider Bikash new born care practices, feeding (they assist the AWWs) demonstrations, weighing of children and growth monitoring on a regular basis, community based monitoring system, developing community growth chart, reporting on Ek Nazare, and training with respect to conducting village specific household survey. Training of MACS board members Increased chances of Galivarigudam The MACS board members have sustainability of the Warangal received training on their roles & MACS and apex MACS CASHE responsibilities; concept of unity and federation structures. need for federation; on leadership; on how to run MACS meetings; on Right to assembly and to information on banks and financial discuss political and social institutions; on book-keeping and issues. womens rights and ACTS. These have helped in capacity building, gaining of confidence with regard to interaction with government officials (Mandal development officer and Mandal Revenue officer), and has paved the way for greater sustainability of the federation by strengthening organizational processes and abilities. Organized a convention at mandal level (Maripeda) of all SHG groups. The Social Welfare Minister who is from the same village was invited. Pragati MACS had facilitated this and the entire expenditure was borne by 6 MACS. The convention focused on child marriage 96 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Location, programme and partners A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process and domestic violence. the MACS Manager. The bargaining power of women has Increase in intra- Bankura increased greatly on joining SHGs, at the household decisions Jagdalla household level, and they now have CASHE greater decision-making power in Bikash deciding the marriageable age of daughters in Bankura and in terms of social relations and decisions relating to general health. This comes both from their economic power and village level group affiliation (and the social standing of the group which again comes from development activities that they undertake at the village level such as assisting the AWW on NHD; campaigning for immunization; undertaking health survey under Community Health Care and management initiatives of the Dept. of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and Government of West Bengal; undertaking micro level planning etc). The strategy on the part of the CARE Economic employment/ Galivarigudam partner NGO in Warangal, to improve livelihood security Warangal access to loans by making repayment The strategy is an effort in CASHE arrangement flexible i.e repayment could micro finance towards be done in 20 instalments at 18% seeking inclusion of (diminishing rate) has secured livelihood economically and socially for families earlier affected by land marginalized groups in a alienation. For example, an SC woman in community debt due to the money lender (1,20,000) had to sell land to the Reddy family In terms of information leading to land alienation. After she flow, i.e. knowledge of joined the SHG, she took a loan to take changes about loan access land on lease for her husband and facilities, transparency is funded the education of her daughter by maintained through the accessing Rs. 20,000 in loan from MACS. channels of the SHG The repayment arrangement has group leader. Every improved the creditworthiness of poor month, in the group women and the integration of SHGs into leaders meeting, such MACS has ensured that they can now information is shared by access large loans. Facilitation of MACS Managers (NGO Women are aware of Galivarigudam staff) in organizing a protest against using a public space to Warangal beating up of a SHG member who protest against injustice CASHE protested against arrack making. The 97 CARE India Unravelling the Weave A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process issue was raised in the SHG group and the group leaders took it up in the meeting of MACS Board members who finally decided to organize a rally against the injustice. The issue was captured in the media. The concept of having a General Body Meeting/ Maha Jana Sabha of MACS at the Mandal level where programme review, programme impact, presentation of the auditors report and sector wise planning for the next year takes place in an effort to inculcate democratic values and promote practices of transparency and accountability in the internal functioning of the MACS. It is mandatory that after the GBM, all the 6 MACS should provide a copy of the annual plan to all SHGs. It is also a good example of the unity of a collective and their organizational ability. Due to the Community Action Groups CAG has emerged as the Srikakulam presence in the village, and training of watchdog for the Peddaguda hamlet SHG members by CARE and Velugu community to monitor (Konduru village) Associations, the SHG group members services and entitlements. STEP understand the mechanisms involved in Velugu Association reporting health and PDS related issues. When we asked if the ANM does not turn up regularly now to your village what will you do?, they replied we report it to the cluster level committee which would send a representative personally to the ANM, and if she still refuses to pay a regular visit, a complaint is lodged with the Medical officer or to the Project Officer, ITDA. Accountability and womens participation In Bommika village in Srikakulam district of LSG functionaries of Andhra Pradesh, awareness trainings, the constant support of Velugu Association, CAREs PNGO, and a local STEP animator were critical factors in making Biddika Ratnalamma and a group CARE India Location, programme and partners process Increased accountability Srikakulam Bommika STEP Velugu Association 98 Unravelling the Weave Location, programme and partners A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process and also take rest from of agitated women take up a campaign against corruption and lodge a complaint against the village secretary to the Project Officer, ITDA, Seethampeta. The ITDA Project Officer found the allegation to be true and the secretary was suspended. He was also made to return the money he had taken from the people. This one success of the Savara tribe has made them continue their fight against corruption at the local level. Moreover, they have ensured that the new secretary keeps the promises made with regard to sanitation and individual toilets. Another instance of empowerment is that in fear of punishment on the part of office bearers such as the current sarpanch, the secretary promised the community that he would pay in cash for rice he did not distribute to people under the food for work scheme. Agitation against alcoholism by women Could be seen as an effort Velugu Association has also been able to towards sensitizing LSG energize a SHG to take up the issue of towards social problems alcoholism, which was affecting women. The SHG women collected all the cans of local alcohol, invited the sarpanch and set the cans on fire near a village banyan tree. Participation of women Women consider the Champaguda Village of The womenfolk of Champaguda state WRM system a milestone Kollaoattu that they have benefited the most due to since it has helped them Panchayat (Dumbriguda CARE-NATURE-STEPs intervention to take care of children in Mandal) of the micro project. Earlier, after a better way and provided STEP coming back from the fields at 7 p.m., them with enough time to Nature, they had to go down to the road to fetch perform household CAG water for cooking and drinking. As a chores. Now, women result, they often got bitten by snakes, have time to attend which resulted in additional expenditure community meetings and for the family for her treatment. Now SHG meetings regularly the water is available at their doorstep. work. The micro project has changed the life of Now, families have started villagers. The habit of saving inculcated spending money for through the formation of womens medical treatment, buying SHGs has motivated the men folk to gold and expensive save money without misusing it for clothes, buying bullock liquor, casino (the current savings per carts for irrigation. 99 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Location, programme and partners A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process family per year is Rs. 16000; earlier it was Expenditure for education Rs. 6000). of children, marriage and festivals has also gone up considerably. Youngsters are going to Paderu for pursuing higher studies. The quality of life of the villagers has improved. An effort for banning liquor in the They have saved the village by women money and utilized it for After the launch of the STEP kitchen garden and programme, people started attending farming which gave them meetings regularly and got to know more returns about the bad effects of liquor. But it was the womens SHGs that played a key role collectively in tackling the problem. Due to availability of water and more Income of the household time of women, they invested their increased by extra additional time in kitchen gardening. The activities undertaken by SHGs helped them in this process. women. Now, women are involved in decisionmaking processes of the household. After being trained on SHGs and after a They are able to express few exposure visits, a few women have their opinion in front of developed communication and others. A few members organizing skills. Now, they are more are planning to participate confident and vocal about expressing in panchayat elections. their needs and opinions. Women now have the opportunity to get out of their homes. The STEP programme has various They are aware of the activities to empower women such as benefits of savings formation of SHGs, book keeping, village level training, village level They are aware of meetings, exposure visits, SHG activities outside their convention, parent teacher associations village. and of course interaction with PNGO and CARE staff. Able to express themselves More aware of importance of health and education in their lives. Able to express their 100 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Location, programme and partners A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process needs in front of government officials. She got the land for Dhamsarai (Anantgiri Mandal) STEP Nature, ITDA, Panchayat, Empowering an elderly woman With the consultation of CAG, the VSS survival. Work provided Village of Kotturu and the panchayat, the community by the community also Panchayat provided land to an old lady. She is also gave her food security. given food whenever she works as a labourer on others land. VSS Role of SMT Women (lactating and Khammam It has often been seen that all services pregnant women) are Banigandlapadu are in the hand of the service providers aware of services rendered Block: Madira but introducing self monitoring tools to by the AWCs. INHP women provided an opportunity to the CRESHE women to monitor their own health. This activity also helped (lactating and pregnant women) them in demanding the services from the service providers. Role of project strategies -Women are more vocal The project has various strategies, which about their health needs. helped in empowering the women. These -Their mobility has strategies are training of service increased providers, involvement of PRIs, training - They interact with of change agents, which helped in various service providers changing the attitude of mother-in-laws and are aware of different and husbands, and formation of SHGs. government schemes. -In the past five years there is no still birth or maternal death. Women from this group are working as a pressure group in the community. -Women are more vocal Role of Mothers Committee From the community, mothers are about their health needs. selected for the Mothers Committee. -Their mobility has They help the AWW in AWC activities. increased - They interact with various service providers and are aware of different government schemes. -In the past five years there is no still birth or maternal death. Women from this group are working as a pressure 101 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Location, programme and partners A broad description of empowering The outcome of the process process group in the community. They are also able to monitor the AWC -This process also helps towards a sustainable effort towards empowering the community for their rights and entitlements. Women are able to control their family or decide when to have a child. These activities cater to the right to life. 102 CARE India Unravelling the Weave 103 Annexure 4: Good practices from different CARE projects Institutional Level processes CBO Promotion of Community Action Group as a pressure group to take forward the community agenda prioritized needs identified. This has led to the community coming together taking decisions as one. Strengthening sectoral CBOs like SHGs, VSS and SECs for bringing transparency and accountability among the service providers. Capacity building provided to the various community based organizations has brought in the aspects of accountability, transparency and participation which these CBOs are now demanding at the level of service delivery. Promotion of Grain Bank as a Community Level Institution for addressing food scarcity in lean periods. The grain bank has been able to address the issues of vulnerability among the community. Promotion of Interface mechanisms for the community to interact with mainstream agencies. CARE through its work with the government has been able to provide leverage to the community to meet its demands. Linkage of SHGs with Financial Institutions Banks, Government and Indira Kranthi Patakam Implementation of Community Structure like Water Harvesting Structures / Drinking Water Systems. This has been done with active participation of the community which also benefited the people from neighbouring villages. Partner NGOs Capacity Building of NGO staff for qualitative implementation of programmes. The staff have been trained in use of participatory tools, in better management of resources, which according to the staff has led to better efficiency in the field level. Strengthening of management systems for planning, monitoring, review and evaluation Inclusion in strategic planning, especially the operational design, the monitoring and review systems for ownership and sustainability Regular technical support for implementation of planned programmes. Technical support has been provided in liaison with other organizations in the fields of land development etc. CARE Strategic planning with all stakeholders ITDA, Partner NGOs and CARE Regular monitoring of the progress through monitoring and review systems for outputs (quarterly), outcomes (annually) and impact (MTE and Impact Studies) Documentation - processes documentation, progress reports and sectoral studies Establishment of appropriate review mechanisms like PMT and Core Teams Capacity Building of CARE staff and critical stakeholders on key programme areas CARE India Unravelling the Weave Sustainable Tribal Empowerment Project Community Level processes: Among the community level processes in the Sustainable Tribal Empowerment Project (STEP) one of the main processes is involving the community in the community planning process. The capacity building and training provided by CARE and PNGO has meant that the community is now able to monitor the implementation process of the community planning process themselves. The creation of CBOs in the project areas and financial assistance from CARE has led to the formation of Grain Banks, Water Harvesting Structures and drinking water systems. These have gone a long way in reducing the vulnerability of the population of the project area. There have also been instances where the community based organizations have taken steps to make sure that there was inclusion of the most marginalized in the village. These efforts were complimented by the specific targeting of government welfare schemes for the vulnerable families in the community. The training of catalysts like Animators, CHW, CBO representatives has helped in the better functioning of the community based organizations and has also led the community to become aware about their rights. Government Quarterly review with Government on the progress as well as for dealing with operational issues. Capacity Building of Key Government staff training for frontline functionaries (ANM, Vidya Volunteers, Panchayat Secretaries) and Exposure to best practices for Government Counterparts. This has helped in bringing about efficiency and effectiveness on the issues childrens education and adolescent health. Establishment of Convergence mechanism like the State Level Advisory Committee and the Project Steering Committee RACHNA Community Level Processes Individual \ Family\ Community Awareness on entitlements - BCC\ IEC Developed community volunteers - CA \ CBO \ SHG\ TBA Sensitization of opinion leaders \ religious \ caste leaders. It is seen that the reception of the community towards key issues regarding health and nutrition depends a lot on the kind of communication patterns existent in the community. Therefore taking the community leaders into confidence has proved to be effective. 104 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Participation of CBO \ SHG \ PRI \Mahila Mandal in NHD this not only helps in building the awareness of the community on key health issues but also helps in sustaining the process. Involvement of women in GP \ GS meetings Formation of YRC \ JIGYASA CLUBS \ QUESTION BOX. This has proved to be a Linking cultural practices with Health & Nutrition which would then lead to the long Form convergent forums at GP \ SC level this help to bring in the policy makers closer novel way to look at the issues of adolescent health and also to empower the youth. term sustainability of the health and nutrition practices. to the issues of the people. CASHE Community level micro process Targeting individual based on certain criteria: Age Social Economic criteria Only women Meeting with individual House-hold: Only poor house-hold were targeted based on certain criteria like income, land holding Meeting with the head of the house-hold Collecting the household level data for baseline Community: Interaction with opinion leaders Meeting with community people Organising cultural programme in the community Forming the groups CBMS: Use of social maps by change agents to track the service delivery to the pregnant and lactating women. The use of various tools for growth monitoring, Nutrition and Health day service delivery etc. Services, targeting, transparency, decisions, community involvement, empowerment, accountability CA as change leaders Institutional level process CBO/SHGs Capacity building on different issues/aspects like group management, accountancy, leadership etc 105 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Exposure visits have helped the community and also the partner organization have helped in building capacities and improving efficiency of the community as well as the PNGO. External linkages with banks and other service providers ex: government line departments have not only increased the bargaining power of the women in the community but also at the household level. Awareness generation on gender issues through discussion and use of IEC material Awareness generation on cluster/federation formation Training on cluster development/management Consultative meeting with all group leaders CLUSTER Mapping up of clusters Identification cluster leaders by group leaders Development of cluster by-laws Registration of cluster Training on cluster management and exposure Facilitation by NGO staff FEDERATION Consultative meeting with cluster leaders Identification of federation leaders Preparation of by-laws Registration Capacity building of federation leaders (Training and Exposure) External linkages with Banks (UTI and HDFC) PRI: Inputs on Panchayati Raj system to staff/SHG members in the capacity building programmes IEC material development Gram Shabha and Gram Unnayan Samiti Facilities by field staff during group visit on PRI Participation of SHG members in Gram Sansad Follow up by staff PARTNERS: a. Selection of partners through First screening through secondary data Use of PACT tool for assessment b. Signing of agreement Development of Business plan Capacity building of partner at various level ex: management of staff Regular monitoring and reviews Capacity building of staff on Gender ENABLING ENVIRONMENT: CARE India 106 Unravelling the Weave Strategic partnership with the government department and programme like SGSY and Swayam Siddha Partnership with ICICI bank, HDFC, State Bank of India and UCO Bank for bulk loan. This has led to the rise in entrepreneurship among the women from among the community and increased their bargaining power even at the household level. More than one example could be found of women assisting their husbands in setting up businesses. In some cases the women have themselves set up small shops in the village. Partnership with insurance companies NIC, ICICI Lombard, Royal Sundaram Advocacy for appropriate legal act for micro-finance operation in West Bengal Research undertaken on different issues to influence government policies Membership in organization like gSADHANh involved in policy advocacy Dissemination of information on different issues Promotion of state level network for policy advocacy SNEHAL Institution Building Community level . Institutionalize community based organizations and promote networks . Facilitate community to develop, implement, review micro- development plans of villages . Build capacities / skills / systems of service providers and community for effective service delivery and access . To increase confidence of communities to actively participate in project activities . This facilitated process of organize marginalized people in CBOs (SHGs, Bal Adhikar Samitis, Village Development Committees, etc.) . Micro Projects such as Repairs of drinking water wells, cattle feed centre, construction of storage tank & wells, collective marketing of coal, milk, etc. . Trainings and educational exposures on leadership development, group management, books and records maintenance, Govt. schemes / systems and entitlements . Capacity Building interventions to initiate and sustain active processes in governance processes . Skill based training to promote micro enterprise of women . Identification and training of change agents . Thematic studies for socially excluded communities and development of strategy papers SAKSHAM Empowering communities to fight HIV CARE's SAKSHAM programme has been empowering communities for two years. The effort strengthens awareness, knowledge and skills for HIV/AIDS management amongst non-governmental organisations in India. The programmefs mantra is community based structural interventions or CLSI, which rests on three tenets, which lead to holistic empowerment, and thereby, a reduction in HIV transmission: . Mobilising vulnerable communities to access their rights . Building access and utilisation of services 107 CARE India Unravelling the Weave Developing an enabling environment CARE puts the CLSI to test at a demonstration site in Rajamundry, Andhra Pradesh, a semi-urban hot-spot for HIV transmission, before transferring its learning to the NGO partners of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations HIV prevention initiative, AVAHAN. The programme has already catalysed a powerful movement wherein sex workers have started to engage with political structures to access their health and human rights. 108 Good practices from the lenses of Governance, Empowerment of women and community based monitoring systems Governance A tribal rights assertion sangham (collective) is being developed to seek the rights of the community Robust participatory processes -action-oriented learning process and micro- level planning as means to take charge of development processes: Strengthening formal local self governance systems Capacity creation of community action groups on planned role in the project activities Direct partnerships are being created by CARE with peoples institutions and technomanagerial capacities are being provided to these: Convergence of elected members and service providers to review the programme Focus not just on the project objectives, but also on leveraging government schemes: NGO Representation of SHG members in the Gram Unnayan Samiti Increasing accountability of institutions by SHGs Creating role models and greater community participation Addressing exclusion Ensuring right to information about services and entitlements: Developing perspective and information about best practices and using formal systems to diffuse information Note: For more details and a more exhaustive list of best practices in governance, please refer to Annexure 01. Participation through the Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS) an empowering process CARE India Unravelling the Weave Community Based Monitoring tools were being used as part of the good governance model under Gajwel ICDS. The process is taken up at community level by the change agents and the Anganwadi worker and at the block level by the CDPO office. Participation of SHG women in the GUS Training, capacity building of partners/communities Micro Level Planning (MLP) a participatory process Social maps on village wall - transparency Community Action Group An informal Parent Teacher Association Note: For more details and a more exhaustive list of CBMS best practices, please refer to Annexure 01. Womens Empowerment Creating role models for women Promoting representation of women in local village level institutions as well as higher level institutions Education initiatives for women Representation of women in the GUS Training of MACS board members Accountability and womens participation Agitation against alcoholism by women Participation of women An effort for banning liquor in the village by women Empowering an elderly woman Role of SMT Role of project strategies Role of Mothers Committee Note: For more details and a more exhaustive list of best practices in gender, please refer to Annexure 01. 109 CARE India Unravelling the Weave PRAXIS India Mr. Tom Thomas (Advisor) Mr. Pankaj V. Sharma (Coordinator) Mr. Amrendra Kumar Pandey Mr. Anindo Banerjee Ms. Auromala Das. Ms. Ayesha Satya Ms. Ch. Nagamani Mr. Jay Kumar Verma Ms. Kirti Mishra Ms. Madhura A. Pandit Mr. Manish Kumar Ms. Mukul Mukherjee Ms. Paramita Roy Mr. Rajeev Dhyani Mr. Sailesh kumar Singh Mr. Sriharsha K. Mr. Srijan Mr. Sushil Kumar Singh Mr. Tapan Patel CARE India Study Team Members MOLD, CARE India Dr. Philip Viegas Dr. K.Amarendra Singh Mr. Somen Chakravorty Dr. Madhumita Sarkar Mr. George Kurian Mr. Indrajit Roy Ms. Shilpi Nigam 110